•NRLF 


B    3    273    DMb 


'Books,  like  chickens,  should  come  home  to  roost. 


PRIVATE  LIBRARY 

...OF... 


E.  I. 


^'A 
l\\ 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


IN  MEMORY  OF 

PROFESSOR 
EUGENE  I.  McCORMAC 


WOOD'S 

QLD  BOCK  &.-RE 

1246  Broadway 
c 


BY  A.  J.  GEORGE,  A.M. 

WORDSWORTH'S  PRELUDE,  with  notes. 
SELECTIONS  FROM  WORDSWORTH,  with  notes. 
BURKE'S  SPEECHES  ON  THE  AMERICAN  WAR,  and  LET 
TER  TO  THE  SHERIFFS  OF  BRISTOL,  with  notes. 
SYLLABUS  OF  ENGLISH   HISTORY  AND   LITERATURE. 

IN  PREPARATION. 

SCOTT'S   MARMION. 

WORDSWORTH'S    EXCURSION,    and    THE    WHITE    DOE    OF   RYL- 

STONE. 
THE   HISTORY   AND    LITERATURE  OF   SCOTLAND 

I.    THE   HIGHLANDS.  II.    THE   BORDER. 


EDMUND  BURKE. 

SPEECHES  ON  THE  AMERICAN  WAR, 

AND 

LETTER  TO   THE   SHERIFFS   OF   BRISTOL. 

WITH 

Introduction  anlr  Notes 

BY    A.    J.    GEORGE,    A.M. 


"  I  shall  ahvays  consider  that  liberty  as  very  equivocal  in 
her  appearance,  which  has  not  wisdom  and  jtistice  for  her 
companions,  and  does  not  lead  prosperity  and  plenty  in 
her  train" 


BOSTON,  U.S.A.: 

PUBLISHED  BY  D.  C.  HEATH  &  CO. 
1891. 


LIBRARY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


COPYRIGHT,  1891, 
BY  A.  J.  GEORGE. 


TYPOGRAPHY  BY  J.  S.  GUSHING  &  Co.,  BOSTON. 
PRESSWORK  BY  BERWICK  &  SMITH,  BOSTON. 


TO 
MY  FRIEND   AND   TEACHER, 


5k  ©urgea,  33*13*, 


THIS  BOOK  IS  AFFECTIONATELY 
INSCRIBED. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION vii 

SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION i 

SPEECH  ON  ARRIVAL  AT  BRISTOL 72 

SPEECH  AT  THE  CONCLUSION  OF  THE  POLL 76 

SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA 85 

LETTER  TO  THE  SHERIFFS  OF  BRISTOL 167 


BIOGRAPHICAL 222 

MINISTRIES  DURING  BURKE'S  POLITICAL  LIFE 223 

A  GROUP  OF  BURKE'S  LITERARY  FRIENDS 223 

SCHEME  FOR  ANALYSIS  OF  STYLE 224 


NOTES 225 

BOOKS  OF  REFERENCE 242 


v 


INTRODUCTION. 


ONE  of  the  noblest  masterpieces  in  the  literature  of  civil 
and  political  wisdom,  is  to  be  found  in  Burke's  three  produc 
tions  on  the  American  War ;  his  speech  on  Taxation  in  1 774 ; 
on  Conciliation  in  1775  ;  and  his  Letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of 
Bristol,  1777. 

These  three  pieces  are  the  most  perfect  manual  in  all 
literature  for  the  study  of  great  affairs,  whether  for  the  pur 
pose  of  knowledge  or  action.  They  are  an  example  without 
fault  of  all  the  qualities  which  the  critic,  whether  a  theorist 
or  an  actor,  of  great  political  situations  should  strive  by  night 
and  by  day  to  possess.  .  .  .  No  student  worthy  of  the  name 
will  lay  aside  these  pieces,  so  admirable  in  their  literary  ex 
pression,  so  important  for  history,  so  rich  in  lessons  of  civil 
wisdom,  until  he  has  found  out  something  from  other  sources 
as  to  the  circumstances  from  which  such  writings  arose,  and 
as  to  the  man  whose  resplendent  genius  inspired  them.  — 
JOHN  MORLEY. 

The  great  value  of  all  his  speeches,  before  and  during  the 
American  War,  is,  I  apprehend,  this,  that  he  treats  relations 
between  countries  as  if  they  were  no  less  real  than  the  rela 
tions  between  individuals.  —  REV.  F.  D.  MAURICE. 


viii  INTRODUCTION. 

Unlike  Hume,  whose  politics  were  elaborated  in  the  study, 
Burke  wrote  his  political  tracts  and  speeches  face  to  face 
with  events,  and  upon  them.  Philosophical  reasoning  and 
poetic  passion  were  wedded  together  in  them  on  the  side  of 
conservatism,  and  every  art  of  eloquence  was  used  with  the 
mastery  that  imagination  gives.  —  REV.  STOPFORD  BROOKE. 

Burke 's  political  philosophy  was  strictly  a  moral  philoso 
phy.  The  popular  notions  of  good  and  evil,  of  right  and 
wrong,  as  inculcated  in  the  ordinary  precepts  of  the  Christian 
religion,  were  his  standard  of  estimating  all  political  actions. 
He  can,  indeed,  only  be  justly  characterized  as  the  greatest 
political  thinker  of  his  time,  and  perhaps  of  any  time. — - 
THOMAS  MACKNIGHT,  Life  and  Times  of  Burke. 

Among  the  eminent  men  who  have  influenced  legislative 
assemblies  in  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  during  the 
past  hundred  and  twenty  years,  it  is  curious  that  only  two 
have  established  themselves  as  men  of  the  first  class  in  Eng 
lish  and  American  literature.  These  two  men  are  Edmund 
Burke  and  Daniel  Webster.  —  E.  P.  WHIPPLE. 

In  the  common  principles  of  all  social  and  civil  order, 
Burke  is  unquestionably  our  best  and  wisest  teacher.  In 
handling  the  particular  questions  of  his  time  he  always  in 
volves  those  principles,  and  brings  them  to  their  practical 
bearings,  where  they  most  "  come  home  to  the  business  and 
bosoms  of  men."  And  his  pages  are  everywhere  bright  with 
the  highest  and  purest  political  morality,  while  at  the  same 
time  he  is  a  consummate  master  in  the  intellectual  charms 
and  graces  of  authorship.  —  H.  N.  HUDSON. 


INTRODUCTION.  ix 

One  who  studies  the  life  and  work  of  Edmund  Burke  will 
find  that  it  naturally  divides  itself  into  four  great  periods, 
which  are  characterized  not  so  much  by  their  duration  as  by 
the  nature  of  the  work  done.  The  first  may  be  called  the 
period  of  Preparation ;  the  second,  that  of  the  American 
War ;  the  third,  of  the  Indian  Question ;  and  the  fourth,  of 
the  French  Revolution. 

Each  of  these  periods  is  worthy  of  careful  study ;  and  as 
the  selections  contained  in  this  volume  refer  to  the  second 
period,  their  use  ought  to  result  in  a  desire  to  master  the 
principles  which  entered  into  and  moulded  the  life  of  that 
great  statesman  and  great  man.  The  present  generation 
must  not  be  allowed  to  forget  that  the  sources  of  our  politi 
cal  and  social  well-being  are  in  the  lives  of  those  who,  in  any 
age  and  under  whatever  circumstances,  have  endeavored  to 
make  reason  and  the  will  of  God  prevail. 

This  work  is  edited  in  the  hope  that  by  furthering  the 
study  of  the  greatest  political  classic  in  the  English  language, 
it  may  also  further  that  spirit  which  seeks  to  study  history 
as  revealed  in  literature,  and  literature  as  inspired  by  great 
historic  events. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  notes  the  editor  has  confined 
himself  to  the  historical  setting  and  interpretation  of  the 
work,  and  has  left  the  question  of  literary  merit  to  be  wrought 
out  by  the  pupil  under  .the  inspiration  of  the  class-room  exer 
cise.  A  careful  analysis  of  Burke's  style,  according  to  the 
Scheme  on  page  224,  will  be  found  advantageous. 

In  the  matter  of  biography,  one  of  the  works  given  on 
page  242  should  be  consulted.  A  T  G 

BROOKLINE,  MASS., 
April,  1891. 


SPEECH    OF   EDMUND   BURKE,    ESQ., 


ON 


AMERICAN    TAXATION. 

APRIL  19,  1774. 


SIR  :  I  agree  with  the  honourable  gentleman1  who  spoke 
last,  that  this  subject  is  not  new  in  this  House.  Very  dis 
agreeably  to  this  House,  very  unfortunately  to  this  nation, 
and  to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  this  whole  empire,  no 
topic  has  been  more  familiar  to  us.  For  nine  long  years,  5 
session  after  session,  we  have  been  lashed  round  and  round 
this  miserable  circle  of  occasional  arguments  and  temporary 
expedients.  I  am  sure  our  heads  must  turn,  and  our  stomachs 
nauseate  with  them.  We  have  had  them  in  every  shape  ;  we 
have  looked  at  them  in  every  point  of  view.  Invention  is  10 
exhausted ;  reason  is  fatigued ;  experience  has  given  judg 
ment  ;  but  obstinacy  is  not  yet  conquered.2 

The  honourable  gentleman  has  made  one  endeavour  more 
to  diversify  the  form  of  this  disgusting  argument.     He  has 
thrown  out  a  speech  composed  almost  entirely  of  challenges.   15 
Challenges  are  serious  things ;  and  as  he  is  a  man  of  pru 
dence  as  well  as  resolution,  I   dare  say  he  has  very  well 
weighed  those  challenges  before  he  delivered  them.     I  had 
long  the  happiness  to  sit  at  the  same  side  of  the  House,  and 
to  agree  with  the  honourable  gentleman  on  all  the  American  20 
questions.3     My  sentiments,  I  am  sure,  are  well  known  to 
him ;  and  I  thought  I  had  been  perfectly  acquainted  with 


2  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION. 

his.  Though  I  find  myself  mistaken,  he  will  still  permit  me 
to  use  the  privilege  of  an  old  friendship ;  he  will  permit  me 
to  apply  myself  to  the  House  under  the  sanction  of  his 
authority ;  and,  on  the  various  grounds  he  has  measured  out, 

5  to  submit  to  you  the  poor  opinions  which  I  have  formed 
upon  a  matter  of  importance  enough  to  demand  the  fullest 
consideration  I  could  bestow  upon  it. 

He  has  stated  to  the  House  two  grounds  of  deliberation  : 
one  narrow  and  simple,  and  merely  confined  to  the  question 

10  on  your  paper ;  the  other  more  large  and  more  complicated  ; 
comprehending  the  whole  series  of  the  parliamentary  pro 
ceedings  with  regard  to  America,  their  causes,  and  their 
consequences.  With  regard  to  the  latter  ground,  he  states 
it  as  useless,  and  thinks  it  may  be  even  dangerous,  to  enter 

15  into  so  extensive  a  field  of  inquiry.  Yet,  to  my  surprise,  he 
had  hardly  laid  down  this  restrictive  proposition,  to  which 
his  authority  would  have  given  so  much  weight,  when  directly, 
and  with  the  same  authority,  he  condemns  it ;  and  declares 
.it  absolutely  necessary  to  enter  into  the  most  ample  historical 

20  detail.1  His  zeal  has  thrown  him  a  little  out  of  his.  usual 
accuracy.  In  this  perplexity  what  shall  we  do,  Sir,  who  are 
willing  to  submit  to  the  law  he  gives  us  ?  He  has  reprobated 
in  one  part  of  his  speech  the  rule  he  had  laid  down  for 
debate  in  the  other ;  and,  after  narrowing  the  ground  for  all 

25  those  who  are  to  speak  after  him,  he  takes  an  excursion  him 
self,  as  unbounded  as  the  subject  and  the  extent  of  his  great 
abilities. 

Sir,  when  I  cannot  obey  all  his  laws,  I  will  do  the  best  I 
can.     I  will  endeavour  to  obey  such  of  them  as  have  the 

£o  sanction  of  his  example ;  and  to  stick  to  that  rule,  which, 
though  not  consistent  with  the  other,  is  the  most  rational. 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION.  3 

He  was  certainly  in  the  right  when  he  took  the  matter 
largely.  I  cannot  prevail  on  myself  to  agree  with  him  in  his 
censure  of  his  own  conduct.  It  is  not,  he  will  give  me  leave 
to  say,  either  useless  or  dangerous.  He  asserts,  that  retro 
spect  is  not  wise  ;  and  the  proper,  the  only  proper,  subject  5 
of  inquiry,  is  "  not  how  we  got  into  this  difficulty,  but  how 
we  are  to  get  out  of  it."  In  other  words,  we  are,  according 
to  him,  to  consult  our  invention,  and  to  reject  our  experience.1 
The  mode  of  deliberation  he  recommends  is  diametrically 
opposite  to  every  rule  of  reason  and  every  principle  of  good  10 
sense  established  amongst  mankind.  For  that  sense  and 
that  reason  I  have  always  understood  absolutely  to  prescribe, 
whenever  we  are  involved  in  difficulties  from  the  measures 
we  have  pursued,  that  we  should  take  a  strict  review  of  those 
measures,  in  order  to  correct  our  errors,  if  they  should  be  15 
corrigible ;  or  at  least  to  avoid  a  dull  uniformity  in  mischief, 
and  the  unpitied  calamity  of  being  repeatedly  caught  in  the 
same  snare. 

Sir,  I  will  freely  follow  the  honourable  gentleman  in  his 
historical  discussion,  without  the  least  management  for  men  20 
or  measures,  further  than  as  they  shall  seem  to  me  to  deserve 
it.     But  before  I  go  into  that  large  consideration,  because  I 
would  omit  nothing  that  can  give  the  House  satisfaction,  I 
wish  to  tread  the  narrow  ground  to  which  alone  the  honour 
able  gentleman,  in  one  part  of  his  speech,  has  so  strictly  25 
confined  us. 

He  desires  to  know,  whether,  if  we  were  to  repeal  this  tax, 
agreeably  to  the  proposition  of  the  honourable  gentleman 
who  made  the  motion,  the  Americans  would  not  take  post 
on  this  concession,  in  order  to  make  a  new  attack  on  the  30 
next  body  of  taxes ;  and  whether  they  would  not  call  for  a 


4  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION. 

repeal  of  the  duty  on  wine  as  loudly  as  they  do  now  for  the 
repeal  of  the  duty  on  tea  ?  Sir,  I  can  give  no  security  on  this 
subject.  But  I  will  do  all  that  I  can,  and  all  that  can  be 
fairly  demanded.  To  the  experience  which  the  honourable 

5  gentleman  reprobates  in  one  instant,  and  reverts  to  in  the 
next ;    to   that   experience,  without   the   teast  wavering  or 
hesitation  on  my  part,  I  steadily  appeal ;  and  would  to  God 
there  was  no  other  arbiter  to  decide  on  the  vote  with  which 
the  House  is  to  conclude  this  day. 

10  When  parliament  repealed  the  stamp  act  in  the  year  1 766, 
I  affirm,  first,  that  the  Americans  did  not  in  consequence  of 
this  measure  call  upon  you  to  give  up  the  former  parlia 
mentary  revenue  which  subsisted  in  that  country ;  or  even 
any  one  of  the  articles  which  compose  it.1  I  affirm  also,  that 

15  when,  departing  from  the  maxims  of  that  repeal,  you  revived 
the  scheme  of  taxation,  and  thereby  filled  the  minds  of  the 
colonists  with  new  jealousy,  and  all  sorts  of  apprehensions, 
then  it  was  that  they  quarrelled  with  the  old  taxes,  as  well 
as  the  new ;  then  it  was,  and  not  till  then,  that  they  ques- 

20  tioned  all  the  parts  of  your  legislative  power ;  and  by  the 
battery  of  such  questions  have  shaken  the  solid  structure  of 
this  empire  to  its  deepest  foundations. 

Of  those  two  propositions  I  shall,  before  I  have  done, 
give  such  convincing,  such  damning  proofs,  that  however  the 

25  contrary  may  be  whispered  in  circles,  or  bawled  in  news 
papers,  they  never  more  will  dare  to  raise  their  voices  in  this 
House.  I  speak  with  great  confidence.  I  have  reason  for 
it.  The  ministers  are  with  me.  They  at  least  are  convinced 
that  the  repeal  of  the  stamp  act  had  not,  and  that  no  repeal 

30  can  have,  the  consequences  which  the  honourable  gentleman 
who  defends  their  measures  is  so  much  alarmed  at.  To  their 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  5 

conduct  I  refer  him  for  a  conclusive  answer  to  this  objection. 
I  carry  my  proof  irresistibly  into  the  very  body  of  both  min 
istry  and  parliament ;  not  on  any  general  reasoning  growing 
out  of  collateral  matter,  but  on  the  conduct  of  the  honourable 
gentleman's  ministerial  friends  on  the  new  revenue  itself.  5 

The  act  of  1767,  which  grants  this  tea  duty,  sets  forth  in 
its  preamble,  that  it  was  expedient  to  raise  a  revenue  in 
America,  for  the  support  of  the  civil  government  there,  as 
well  as  for  purposes  still  more  extensive.  To  this  support 
the  act  assigns  six  branches  of  duties.  About  two  years  after  10 
this  act  passed,  the  ministry,  I  mean  the  present  ministry, 
thought  it  expedient  to  repeal  five  of  the  duties,  and  to  leave 
(for  reasons  best  known  to  themselves)  only  the  sixth  stand 
ing.  Suppose  any  person,  at  the  time  of  that  repeal,  had 
thus  addressed  the  minister  : 1  "  Condemning,  as  you  do,  the  15 
repeal  of  the  stamp  act,  why  do  you  venture  to  repeal  the 
duties  upon  glass,  paper,  and  painters'  colours?  Let  your 
pretence  for  the  repeal  be  what  it  will,  are  you  not  thoroughly 
convinced,  that  your  concessions  will  produce,  not  satisfac 
tion,  but  insolence,  in  the  Americans ;  and  that  the  giving  up  2o 
these  taxes  will  necessitate  the  giving  up  of  all  the  rest?" 
This  objection  was  as  palpable  then  as  it  is  now ;  and  it  was 
as  good  for  preserving  the  five  duties  as  for  retaining  the 
sixth.  Besides,  the  minister  will  recollect,  that  the  repeal  of 
the  stamp  act  had  but  just  preceded  his  repeal ;  and  the  ill  25 
policy  of  that  measure,  (had  it  been  so  impolitic  as  it  has 
been  represented,)  and  the  mischiefs  it  produced,  were  quite 
recent.  Upon  the  principles,  therefore,  of  the  honourable 
gentleman,  upon  the  principles  of  the  minister  himself,  the 
minister  has  nothing  at  all  to  answer.  He  stands  condemned  30 
by  himself,  and  by  all  his  associates,  old  and  new,  as  a  de- 


6  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

stroyer,  in  the  first  trust  of  finance,  of  the  revenues ;  and  in 
the  first  rank  of  honour,  as  a  betrayer  of  the  dignity  of  his 
country. 

Most  men,  especially  great  men,  do  not  always  know  their 

5  well-wishers.  I  come  to  rescue  that  noble  lord  out  of  the 
hands  of  those  he  calls  his  friends;  and  even  out  of  his  own. 
I  will  do  him  the  justice  he  is  denied  at  home.  He  has  not 
been  this  wicked  or  imprudent  man.  He  knew  that  a  re 
peal  had  no  tendency  to  produce  the  mischiefs  which  give 

10  so  much  alarm  to  his  honourable  friend.  His  work  was  not 
bad  in  its  principle,  but  imperfect  in  its  execution ;  and  the 
motion  on  your  paper  presses  him  only  to  complete  a  proper 
plan,  which,  by  some  unfortunate  and  unaccountable  error, 
he  had  left  unfinished. 

15  I  hope,  Sir,  the  honourable  gentleman,  who  spoke  last,  is 
thoroughly  satisfied,  and  satisfied  out  of  the  proceedings  of 
ministry  on  their  own  favourite  act,  that  his  fears  from  a 
repeal  are  groundless.  If  he  is  not,  I  leave  him,  and  the 
noble  lord  who  sits  by  him,  to  settle  the  matter,  as  well  as 

20  they  can,  together ;  for  if  the  repeal  of  American  taxes  de 
stroys  all  our  government  in  America  —  He  is  the  man  !  — 
and  he  is  the  worst  of  all  the  repealers,  because  he  is  the  last.1 
But  I  hear  it  rung  continually  in  my  ears,  now  and  for 
merly,  —  "  the  preamble  !  what  will  become  of  the  preamble, 

25  if  you  repeal  this  tax?"  —  I  am  sorry  to  be  compelled  so 
often  to  expose  the  calamities  and  disgraces  of  parliament. 
The  preamble  of  this  law,  standing  as  it  now  stands,  has  the 
lie  direct  given  to  it  by  the  provisionary  part  of  the  act ;  if 
that  can  be  called  provisionary  which  makes  no  provision. 

3o  I  should  be  afraid  to  express  myself  in  this  manner,  especially 
in  the  face  of  such  a  formidable  array  of  ability  as  is  now 


SPEECH   ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  7 

drawn  up  before  me,  composed  of  the  ancient  household 
troops  of  that  side  of  the  House,  and  the  new  recruits  from 
this,  if  the  matter  were  not  clear  and  indisputable.  Nothing 
but  truth  could  give  me  this  firmness ;  but  plain  truth  and 
clear  evidence  can  be  beat  down  by  no  ability.  The  clerk  5 
will  be  so  good  as  to  turn  to  the  act,  and  to  read  this  favour 
ite  preamble  : 

Whereas  it  is  expedient  that  a  revenue  should  be  raised  in 
your  Majesty's  dominions  in  America,  for  making  a  more 
certain  and  adequate  provision  for  defraying  the  charge  of  10 
the  administration  of  justice,  and  support  of  civil  government, 
in  such  provinces  where  it  shall  be  found  necessary;  and 
towards  further  defraying  the  expenses  of  defending,  protect 
ing,  and  securing  the  said  dominions. 

You  have  heard  this  pompous  performance.     Now  where  15 
is  the  revenue  which  is  to  do  all  these  mighty  things  ?    Five- 
sixths  repealed  —  abandoned  —  sunk — gone  —  lost  for  ever. 
Does  the  poor  solitary  tea  duty  support  the  purposes  of  this 
preamble?     Is  not  the  supply  there  stated  as  effectually 
abandoned  as  if  the  tea  duty  had  perished  in  the  general  20 
wreck?    Here,  Mr.  Speaker,  is  a  precious  mockery  —  a  pre 
amble  without  an  act  —  taxes  granted  in  order  to  be  repealed 
—  and  the  reasons  of  the  grant  still  carefully  kept  up  !    This 
is  raising  a  revenue  in  America  !     This  is  preserving  dignity 
in  England  !     If  you  repeal  this  tax  in  compliance  with  the  25 
motion,  I  readily  admit  that  you  lose  this   fair  preamble. 
Estimate  your  loss  in  it.     The  object  of  the  act  is  gone  al 
ready  ;  and  all  you  suffer  is  the  purging  the  statute-book  of 
the  opprobrium  of  an  empty,  absurd,  and  false  recital. 

It  has  been  said  again  and  again,  that  the  five  taxes  were  30 
repealed  on  commercial   principles.     It  is  so  said  in  the 


8  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

paper  in  my  hand  ; l  a  paper  which  I  constantly  carry  about ; 
which  I  have  often  used,  and  shall  often  use  again.  What 
is  got  by  this  paltry  pretence  of  commercial  principles  I 
know  not :  for  if  your  government  in  America  is  destroyed 

5  by  the  repeal  of  taxes,  it  is  of  no  consequence  upon  what 
ideas  the  repeal  is  grounded.  Repeal  this  tax  too  upon  com 
mercial  principles  if  you  please.  These  principles  will  serve 
as  well  now  as  they  did  formerly.  But  you  know  that,  either 
your  objection  to  a  repeal  from  these  supposed  consequences 

10  has  no  validity,  or  that  this  pretence  never  could  remove  it. 
This  commercial  motive  never  was  believed  by  any  man, 
either  in  America,  which  this  letter  is  meant  to  soothe,  or  in 
England,  which  it  is  meant  to  deceive.  It  was  impossible  it 
should.  Because  every  man,  in  the  least  acquainted  with  the 

15  detail  of  commerce,  must  know,  that  several  of  the  articles 
on  which  the  tax  was  repealed,  were  fitter  objects  of 
duties  than  almost  any  other  articles  that  could  possibly  be 
chosen ;  without  comparison  more  so  than  the  tea  that  was 
left  taxed ;  as  infinitely  less  liable  to  be  eluded  by  contra- 

20  band.  The  tax  upon  red  and  white  lead  was  of  this  nature. 
You  have,  in  this  kingdom,  an  advantage  in  lead,  that  amounts 
to  a  monopoly.2  When  you  find  yourself  in  this  situation  of 
advantage,  you  sometimes  venture  to  tax  even  your  own 
export.  You  did  so  soon  after  the  last  war ;  when,  upon 

25  this  principle,  you  ventured  to  impose  a  duty  on  coals.  In 
all  the  articles  of  American  contraband  trade,  who  ever 
heard  of  the  smuggling  of  red  lead  and  white  lead?  You 
might,  therefore,  well  enough,  without  danger  of  contraband, 
and  without  injury  to  commerce,  (if  this  were  the  whole 

30  consideration,)  have  taxed  these  commodities.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  glass.  Besides,  some  of  the  things  taxed 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION.  9 

were  so  trivial,  that  the  loss  of  the  objects  themselves,  and 
their  utter  annihilation  out  of  American  commerce,  would 
have  been  comparatively  as  nothing.  But  is  the  article  of 
tea  such  an  object  in  the  trade  of  England,  as  not  to  be  felt, 
or  felt  but  slightly,  like  white  lead  and  red  lead,  and  painters'  5 
colours?  Tea  is  an  object  of  far  other  importance.  Tea  is 
perhaps  the  most  important  object,  taking  it  with  its  neces 
sary  connexions,  of  any  in  the  mighty  circle  of  our  commerce. 
If  commercial  principles  had  been  the  true  motives  to  the 
repeal,  or  had  they  been  at  all  attended  to,  tea  would  have  10 
been  the  last  article  we  should  have  left  taxed  for  a  subject 
of  controversy. 

Sir,  it  is  not  a  pleasant  consideration ;  but  nothing  in  the 
world  can  read  so  awful  and  so  instructive  a  lesson,  as  the 
conduct  of  ministry  in  this  business,  upon  the  mischief  of  15 
not  having  large  and  liberal  ideas  in  the  management  of  great 
affairs.1     Never  have  the  servants  of  the  state  looked  at  the 
whole  of  your  complicated  interests  in  one  connected  view. 
They  have  taken  things  by  bits  and  scraps,  some  at  one 
time  and  one  pretence,  and  some  at  another,  just  as  they  20 
pressed,  without  any  sort  of  regard  to  their  relations  or  de 
pendencies.     They  never  had  any  kind  of  system,  right  or      \ 
wrong ;  but  only  invented  occasionally  some  miserable  tale 
for  the  day,  in  order  meanly  to  sneak  out  of  difficulties,  into 
which  they  had  proudly  strutted.     And  they  were  put  to  all  25 
these  shifts  and  devices,  full  of  meanness  and  full  of  mischief, 
in  order  to  pilfer  piece-meal  a  repeal  of  an  act,  which  they 
had  not  the  generous  courage,  when  they  found  and  felt  their 
error,  honourably  and  fairly  to  disclaim.     By  such  manage 
ment,  by  the  irresistible  operation  of  feeble  councils,  so  paltry  30 
a  sum  as  three-pence  in  the  eyes  of  a  financier,  so  insignifi- 


10  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION 

cant  an  article  as  tea  in  the  eyes  of  a  philosopher,  have 
shaken  the  pillars  of  a  commercial  empire  that  circled  the 
whole  globe. 

Do  you  forget  that,  in  the  very  last  year,  you  stood  on  the 

5  precipice  of  general  bankruptcy  ?  Your  danger  was  indeed 
great.  You  were  distressed  in  the  affairs  of  the  East  India 
Company ;  and  you  well  know  what  sort  of  things  are  in 
volved  in  the  comprehensive  energy  of  that  significant  appel 
lation.1  I  am  not  called  upon  to  enlarge  to  you  on  that 

10  danger,  which  you  thought  proper  yourselves  to  aggravate, 
and  to  display  to  the  world  with  all  the  parade  of  indiscreet 
declamation.  The  monopoly  of  the  most  lucrative  trades,2 
and  the  possession  of  imperial  revenues,  had  brought  you 
to  the  verge  of  beggary  and  ruin.3  Such  was  your  represen- 

15  tation  —  such,  in  some  measure,  was  your  case.  The  vent 
of  ten  millions  of  pounds  of  this  commodity,  now  locked  up 
by  the  operation  of  an  injudicious  tax,  and  rotting  in  the 
warehouses  of  the  company,4  would  have  prevented  all  this 
distress,  and  all  that  series  of  desperate  measures  which  you 

20  thought  yourselves  obliged  to  take  in  consequence  of  it. 
America  would  have  furnished  that  vent,  which  no  other  part 
of  the  world  can  furnish  but  America ;  where  tea  is  next  to 
a  necessary  of  life ;  and  where  the  demand  grows  upon  the 
supply.  I  hope  our  dear-bought  East  India  committees5 

25  have  done  us  at  least  so  much  good,  as  to  let  us  know,  that, 
without  a  more  extensive  sale  of  that  article,  our  East  India 
revenues  and  acquisitions  can  have  no  certain  connexion  with 
this  country.  It  is  through  the  American  trade  of  tea  that 
your  East  India  conquests  are  to  be  prevented  from  crushing 

30  you  with  their  burthen.  They  are  ponderous  indeed  :  and 
they  must  have  that,  great  country  to  lean  upon,  or  they 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION.  11 

tumble  upon  your  head.  It  is  the  same  folly  that  has  lost 
you  at  once  the  benefit  of  the  west  and  of  the  east.  This 
folly  has  thrown  open  folding-doors  to  contraband ;  and  will 
be  the  means  of  giving  the  profits  of  the  trade  of  your  colo 
nies  to  every  nation  but  yourselves.  Never  did  a  people  5 
suffer  so  much  for  the  empty  words  of  a  preamble.  It  must 
be  given  up.  For  on  what  principle  does  it  stand  ?  This 
famous  revenue  stands,  at  this  hour,  on  all  the  debate  as  a 
description  of  revenue  not  as  yet  known  in  all  the  compre 
hensive  (but  too  comprehensive)  vocabulary  of  finance  —  a  :o 
preambulary  tax.  It  is  indeed  a  tax  of  sophistry,  a  tax  of 
pedantry,  a  tax  of  disputation,  a  tax  of  war  and  rebellion,  a 
tax  for  anything  but  benefit  to  the  imposers,  or  satisfaction 
to  the  subject. 

Well !  but  whatever  it  is,  gentlemen  will  force  the  colo-  15 
nists  to  take  the  teas.     You  will  force  them?     Has  seven 
years'  struggle  been  yet  able  to  force  them  ?     O  but  it  seems 
"  we  are  in  the  right.     The  tax  is  trifling  —  in  effect  it  is 
rather  an  exoneration  than  an  imposition ;  three-fourths  of 
the  duty  formerly  payable  on  teas  exported  to  America  is  20. 
taken  off;  the  place  of  collection  is  only  shifted ;  instead 
of  the  retention  of  a  shilling  from  the  drawback  here,  it  is 
three-pence  custom  paid  in  America."     All  this,  Sir,  is  very 
true.     But  this  is  the  very  folly  and  mischief  of  the  act. 
Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  you  know  that  you  have  deliber-  25 
ately  thrown  away  a  large  duty  which  you  held  secure  and 
quiet  in  your  hands,  for  the  vain  hope  of  getting  one  three- 
fourths  less,  through  every  hazard,  through  certain  litigation, 
and  possibly  through  war. 

The  manner  of  proceeding  in  the  duties  on  paper  and  39 
glass,  imposed  by  the  same  act,  was  exactly  in  the  same 


12  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 


spirit.  There  are  heavy  excises  on  those  articles  when  used 
in  England.  On  export,  these  excises  are  drawn  back.1  But 
instead  of  withholding  the  drawback,  which  might  have  been 
done,  with  ease,  without  charge,  without  possibility  of  smug- 
5  gling;  and  instead  of  applying  the  money  (money  already  in 
your  hands)  according  to  your  pleasure,  you  began  your 
operations  in  finance  by  flinging  away  your  revenue ;  you 
allowed  the  whole  drawback  on  export,  and  then  you  charged 
the  duty,  (which  you  had  before  discharged,)  payable  in  the 
10  colonies ;  where  it  was  certain  the  collection  would  devour 
it  to  the  bone,  if  any  revenue  were  ever  suffered  to  be  col 
lected  at  all.  One  spirit  pervades  and  animates  the  whole 
mass.2 

Could  anything  be  a  subject  of  more  just  alarm  to  America, 
15  than  to  see  you  go  out  of  the  plain  high-road  of  finance,  and 
give  up  your  most  certain  revenues  and  your  clearest  inter 
ests,  merely  for  the  sake  of  insulting  your  colonies  ?     No  man 
ever  doubted  that  the  commodity  of  tea  could  bear  an  impo 
sition  of  three-pence.     But  no  commodity  will  bear  three- 
go  pence,  or  will  bear  a  penny,  when  the  general  feelings  of 
men  are  irritated,  and  two  millions  of  people  are  resolved 
not  to  pay.     The  feelings  of  the  colonies  were  formerly  the 
feelings  of  Great  Britain.     Theirs  were  formerly  the  feelings 
of  Mr.  Hampden  when  called  upon  for  the   payment   of 
25  twenty  shillings.     Would  twenty  shillings  have  ruined  Mr. 
Hampden's  fortune  ?     No  !  but  the  payment  of  half  twenty 
shillings,  on  the  principle  it  was  demanded,  would  have  made 
him  a  slave.    It  is  the  weight  of  that  preamble,  of  which  you 
are  so  fond,  and  not  the  weight  of  the  duty,  that  the  Ameri- 
30  cans  are  unable  and  unwilling  to  bear. 

It  is  then,  Sir,  upon  the  principle  of  this  measure,  and 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  13 

nothing  else,  that  we  are  at  issue.  It  is  a  principle  of  politi 
cal  expediency.  Your  act  of  1767  asserts,  that  it  is  expedi 
ent  to  raise  a  revenue  in  America;  your  act  of  1769,  which 
takes  away  that  revenue,  contradicts  the  act  of  1767  ;  and, 
by  something  much  stronger  than  words,  asserts,  that  it  is  not  5 
expedient.  It  is  a  reflection  upon  your  wisdom  to  persist 
in  a  solemn  parliamentary  declaration  of  the  expediency  of 
any  object,  for  which,  at  the  same  time,  you  make  no  sort 
of  provision.  And  pray,  Sir,  let  not  this  circumstance  escape 
you  ;  it  is  very  material ;  that  the  preamble  of  this  act,  which  10 
we  wish  to  repeal,  is  not  declaratory  of  a  right,  as  some  gen 
tlemen  seem  to  argue  it ;  it  is  only  a  recital  of  the  expediency 
of  a  certain  exercise  of  a  right  supposed  already  to  have 
been  asserted ;  an  exercise  you  are  now  contending  for 
by  ways  and  means,  which  you  confess,  though  they  were  15 
obeyed,  to  be  utterly  insufficient  for  their  purpose.  You  are 
therefore  at  this  moment  in  the  awkward  situation  of  fighting 
for  a  phantom ;  a  quiddity ;  a  thing  that  wants,  not  only  a 
substance,  but  even  a  name ;  for  a  thing,  which  is  neither 
abstract  right,  nor  profitable  enjoyment.  20 

They  tell  you,  Sir,  that  your  dignity  is  tied  to  it.     I  know 
not  how  it  happens,  but  this  dignity  of  yours  is  a  terrible     » 
encumbrance  to  you  ;  for  it  has  of  late  been  ever  at  war  with 
your  interest,  your  equity,  and  every  idea  of  your  policy. 
Show  the  thing  you  contend  for  to  be  reason ;  show  it  to  be  25 
common  sense ;  show  it  to  be  the  means  of  attaining  some 
useful  end  ;  and  then  I  am  content  to  allow  it  what  dignity 
you  please.     But  what  dignity  is  derived  from  the  persever 
ance  in  absurdity,  is  more  than  ever  I  could  discern.     The 
honourable  gentleman  has  said  well  —  indeed,  in  most  of  his  30 
general  observations  I  agree  with  him  —  he  says,  that  this 


14  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

subject  does  not  stand  as  it  did  formerly.  Oh,  certainly  not ! 
Every  hour  you  continue  on  this  ill-chosen  ground,  your 
difficulties  thicken  on  you ;  and  therefore  my  conclusion  is, 
remove  from  a  bad  position  as  quickly  as  you  can.  The 

5  disgrace,  and  the  necessity  of  yielding,  both  of  them,  grow 
upon  you  every  hour  of  your  delay. 

But  will  you  repeal  the  act,  says  the  honourable  gentle 
man,  at  this  instant  when  America  is  in  open  resistance  to 
your  authority,  and  that  you  have  just  revived  your  system  of 

10  taxation  ?  He  thinks  he  has  driven  us  into  a  corner.  But 
thus  pent  up,  I  am  content  to  meet  him ;  because  I  enter 
the  lists  supported  by  my  old  authority,  his  new  friends,  the 
ministers  themselves.  The  honourable  gentleman  remem 
bers,  that  about  five  years  ago  as  great  disturbances  as  the 

r5  present  prevailed  in  America  on  account  of  the  new  taxes. 
The  ministers  represented  these  disturbances  as  treasonable  ; 
and  this  House  thought  proper,  on  that  representation,  to 
make  a  famous  address  for  a  revival,  and  for  a  new  applica 
tion  of  a  statute  of  Henry  VIII.1  We  besought  the  king,  in 

20  that  well-considered  address,  to  inquire  into  treasons,  and  to 
bring  the  supposed  traitors  from  America  to  Great  Britain 
for  trial.  His  Majesty  was  pleased  graciously  to  promise  a 
compliance  with  our  request.  All  the  attempts  from  this 
side  of  the  House  to  resist  these  violences,  and  to  bring 

25  about  a  repeal,  were  treated  with  the  utmost  scorn.  An 
apprehension  of  the  very  consequences  now  stated  by  the 
honourable  gentleman,  was  then  given  as  a  reason  for  shut 
ting  the  door  against  all  hope  of  such  an  alteration.  And  so 
strong  was  the  spirit  for  supporting  the  new  taxes,  that  the 

30  session  concluded  with  the  following  remarkable  declaration. 
After  stating  the  vigorous  measures  which  had  been  pursued, 
the  speech  from  the  throne  proceeds : 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION.  15 

You  have  assured  me  of  your  firm  support  in  the  prosecu 
tion  of  them.  Nothing,  in  my  opinion,  could  be  more  likely  to 
enable  the  well-disposed  among  my  subjects  in  that  part  of 
the  world,  effectually  to  discourage  and  defeat  the  designs  of 
the  factious  and  seditious,  than  the  hearty  concurrence  of  every  5 
branch  of  the  legislature,  in  maintaining  the  execution  of  the 
laws  in  every  part  of  my  dominions. 

After  this  no  man  dreamt  that  a  repeal  under  this  ministry 
could  possibly  take  place.     The  honourable  gentleman  knows 
as  well  as  I,  that  the  idea  was  utterly  exploded  by  those  who  10 
sway  the  House.     This  speech  was  made  on  the  ninth  day 
of  May,  1769.     Five  days  after  this  speech,  that  is,  on  the 
1 3th  of  the  same  month,  the  public  circular  letter,  a  part  of 
which  I  am  going  to  read  to  you,  was  written  by  Lord  Hills- 
borough,  secretary  of  state  for  the  colonies.     After  reciting  15 
the  substance  of  the  king's  speech,  he  goes  on  thus  : 

"  /  can  take  upon  me  to  assure  you,  notwithstanding  in 
sinuations  to  the  contrary,  from  men  with  factious  and  sedi 
tious  views,  that  his  Majesty's  present  administration  have  at 
no  time  entertained  a  design  to  propose  to  parliament  to  lay  20 
any  further  taxes  upon  America  for  the  purpose  of  RAISING 
A  REVENUE  ;  and  that  it  is  at  present  their  intention  to 
propose,  the  next  session  of  parliament,  to  take  off  the  duties 
upon  glass,  paper,  and  colours,  upon  consideration  of  such 
duties  having  been  laid  contrary  to  the  true  principles  of  25 
commerce. 

"  These  have  always  been,  and  still  are,  the  sentiments  of 
his  Majesty's  present  servants ;  and  by  which  their  conduct 
in  respect  to  America  has  been  governed.     And  his  Majesty 
relies  upon  your  prudence  and  fidelity  for  such  an  explanation  30 
of  his  measures,  as  may  tend  to  remove  the  prejtidices  which 


16  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION. 

have  been  excited  by  the  misrepresentations  of  those  who  are 
enemies  to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  Great  Britain  and 
her  colonies  ;  and  to  re-establish  that  mutual  confidence  and 
affection  upon  which  the  glory  and  safety  of  the  British 

5     empire  depend" 

Here,  Sir,  is  a  canonical  book  of  ministerial  scripture  ; 
the  general  epistle  to  the  Americans.  What  does  the 
gentleman  say  to  it  ?  Here  a  repeal  is  promised ;  prom 
ised  without  condition ;  and  while  your  authority  was  act- 

10  ually  resisted.  I  pass  by  the  public  promise  of  a  peer 
relative  to  the  repeal  of  taxes  by  this  House.  I  pass  by 
the  use  of  the  king's  name  in  a  matter  of  supply,  that 
sacred  and  reserved  right  of  the  commons.  I  conceal  the 
ridiculous  figure  of  parliament,  hurling  its  thunders  at  the 

15  gigantic  rebellion  of  America ;  and  then  five  days  after 
prostrate  at  the  feet  of  those  assemblies  we  affected  to 
despise ;  begging  them,  by  the  intervention  of  our  min 
isterial  sureties,  to  receive  our  submission,  and  heartily 
promising  amendment.  These  might  have  been  serious 

20  matters  formerly ;  but  we  are  grown  wiser  than  our  fathers. 
Passing,  therefore,  from  the  constitutional  consideration  to 
the  mere  policy,  does  not  this  letter  imply,  that  the  idea  of 
taxing  America  for  the  purpose  of  revenue  is  an  abomi 
nable  project;  when  the  ministry  suppose  that  none  but 

25  factions  men,  and  with  seditious  views,  could  charge  them 
with  it?  does  not  this  letter  adopt  and  sanctify  the  Ameri 
can  distinction  of  taxing  for  a  revenue  ?  does  it  not  formally 
reject  all  future  taxation  on  that  principle?  does  it  not  state 
the  ministerial  rejection  of  such  principle  of  taxation,  not 

30  as  the  occasional,  but  the  constant,  opinion  of  the  king's 
servants?  does  it  not  say,  (I  care  not  how  consistently,) 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  17 

but  does  it  not  say,  that  their  conduct  with  regard  to 
America  has  been  always  governed  by  this  policy  ?  It  goes 
a  great  deal  further.  These  excellent  and  trusty  servants 
of  the  king,  justly  fearful  lest  they  themselves  should  have 
lost  all  credit  with  the  world,  bring  out  the  image  of  their  5 
gracious  sovereign  from  the  inmost  and  most  sacred  shrine, 
and  they  pawn  him  as  a  security  for  their  promises.  —  "  His 
Majesty  relies  on  your  prudence  and  fidelity  for  such  an 
explanation  of  his  measures."  These  sentiments  of  the 
minister,  and  these  measures  of  his  Majesty,  can  only  relate  10 
to  the  principle  and  practice  of  taxing  for  a  revenue ;  and 
accordingly  Lord  Botetourt,  stating  it  as  such,  did,  with 
great  propriety,  and  in  the  exact  spirit  of  his  instructions, 
endeavour  to  remove  the  fears  of  the  Virginian  assembly,1 
lest  the  sentiments,  which  it  seems  (unknown  to  the  world)  15 
had  always  been  those  of  the  ministers,  and  by  which  their 
conduct  in  respect  to  America  had  been  governed,  should  by 
some  possible  revolution,  favourable  to  wicked  American 
taxes,  be  hereafter  counteracted.  He  addresses  them  in 
this  manner :  20 

It  may  possibly  be  objected,  that,  as  his  Majesty's  present 
administration  are  not  immortal,  their  successors  may  be 
inclined  to  attempt  to  undo  what  the  present  ministers  shall 
have  attempted  to  perform  ;  and  to  that  objection  I  can  give 
but  this  answer  ;  that  it  is  my  firm  opinion,  that  the  plan  I  2S 
have  stated  to  you  will  certainly  take  place  ;  and  that  it  will 
never  be  departed  from  ;  and  so  determined  am  I  for  ever  to 
abide  by  it,  that  I  will  be  content  to  be  declared  infamous,  if 
I  do  not,  to  the  last  hour  of  my  life,  at  all  times,  in  all 
places,  and  upon  all  occasions,  exert  every  power  with  which  3° 
/  either  am  or  ever  shall  be  legally  invested,  in  order  to  ob- 


18  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

tain  and  maintain  for  the  continent  of  America  /to  satisfac 
tion  which  I  have  been  authorized  to  promise  this  day,  by  the 
confidential  servants  of  our  gracious  sovereign,  who  to  my 
certain  knowledge  rates  his  honour  so  high,  that  he  would 

5    rather  part  with  his  crown,  than  preserve  it  by  deceit. 

A  glorious  and  true  character  !  which  (since  we  suffer 
his  ministers  with  impunity  to  answer  for  his  ideas  of  taxa 
tion)  we  ought  to  make  it  our  business  to  enable  his  Ma 
jesty  to  preserve  in  all  its  lustre.  Let  him  have  character, 

10  since  ours  is  no  more  !  Let  some  part  of  government  be 
kept  in  respect ! 

This  epistle  was  not  the  letter  of  Lord  Hillsborough 
solely ;  though  he  held  the  official  pen.  It  was  the  letter 
of  the  noble  lord  upon  the  floor,1  and  of  all  the  king's  then 

15  ministers,  who  (with  I  think  the  exception  of  two  only)  are 
his  ministers  at  this  hour.  The  very  first  news  that  a  Brit 
ish  parliament  heard  of  what  it  was  to  do  with  the  duties 
which  it  had  given  and  granted  to  the  king,  was  by  the  pub 
lication  of  the  votes  of  American  assemblies.  It  was  in 

20  America  that  your  resolutions  were  pre-declared.  It  was 
from  thence  that  we  knew  to  certainty,  how  much  exactly, 
and  not  a  scruple  more  or  less,  we  were  to  repeal.  We 
were  unworthy  to  be  let  into  the  secret  of  our  own  conduct. 
The  assemblies  had  confidential  communications  from  his 

25  Majesty's  confidential  servants.  We  were  nothing  but  in 
struments.  Do  you,  after  this,  wonder  that  you  have  no 
weight  and  no  respect  in  the  colonies  ?  After  this,  are  you 
surprised,  that  parliament  is  every  day  and  everywhere 
losing  (I  feel  it  with  sorrow,  I  utter  it  with  reluctance)  that 

30  reverential  affection,  which  so  endearing  a  name  of  authority 
ought  ever  to  carry  with  it ;  that  you  are  obeyed  solely  from 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  19 

respect  to  the  bayonet ;  and  that  this  House,  the  ground 
and  pillar  of  freedom,  is  itself  held  up  only  by  the  treach 
erous  under-pinning  and  clumsy  buttresses  of  arbitrary 
power  ? 

If  this  dignity,  which  is  to  stand  in  the  place  of  just  policy    5 
and  common  sense,  had  been  consulted,  there  was  a  time  for 
preserving  it,  and  for  reconciling  it  with  any  concession.     If 
in  the  session  of  1 768,  that  session  of  idle  terror  and  empty 
menaces,  you  had,  as  you  were  often  pressed  to  do,  repealed 
these  taxes ;   then  your  strong  operations  would  have  come  10 
justified  and  enforced,  in  case  your  concessions  had  been 
returned  by  outrages.     But,  preposterously,  you  began  with 
violence ;    and  before  terrors  could  have  any  effect,  either 
good  or  bad,  your  ministers  immediately  begged  pardon,  and 
promised  that  repeal  to  the  obstinate  Americans,  which  they  15 
had  refused  in   an   easy,  good-natured,  complying   British 
parliament.     The  assemblies,  which  had  been  publicly  and 
avowedly  dissolved  for  their  contumacy,  are  called  together 
to  receive  your  submission.     Your  ministerial  directors  blus 
tered   like   tragic   tyrants   here ;  and  then  went  mumping  20 
with  a  sore  leg  in  America,  canting  and  whining,  and  com 
plaining  of  faction,  which  represented  them  as  friends  to  a 
revenue  from  the  colonies.     I  hope  nobody  in  this  House 
will  hereafter  have  the  impudence  to  defend  American  taxes 
in  the  name  of  ministry.     The  moment  they  do,  with  this  25 
letter  of  attorney  in  my  hand,  I  will  tell  them,  in  the  author 
ized  terms,  they  are  wretches,  "with  factious  and  seditious 
views ;  enemies  to  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  mother 
country  and  the  colonies,"  and  subverters  "  of  the  mutual 
affection  and  confidence  on  which  the  glory  and  safety  of  30 
the  British  empire  depend." 


20  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

After  this  letter  the  question  is  no  more  on  propriety  or 
dignity.  They  are  gone  already.  The  faith  of  your  sover 
eign  is  pledged  for  the  political  principle.  The  general 
declaration  in  the  letter  goes  to  the  whole  of  it.  You  must 

5  therefore  either  abandon  the  scheme  of  taxing ;  or  you  must 
send  the  ministers  tarred  and  feathered  to  America,  who 
dared  to  hold  out  the  royal  faith  for  a  renunciation  of  all 
taxes  for  revenue.  Them  you  must  punish,  or  this  faith  you 
must  preserve.  The  preservation  of  this  faith  is  of  more 

10  consequence  than  the  duties  on  red  lead  or  white  lead,  or  on 
broken  glass,  or  atlas- ordinary,  or  demy-fine,  or  blue  royal,  or 
bastard,  or  fool's-cap,  which  you  have  given  up  ;  or  the  three 
pence  on  tea  which  you  retained.  The  letter  went  stamped 
with  the  public  authority  of  this  kingdom.  The  instructions 

15  for  the  colony  government  go  under  no  other  sanction ;  and 
America  cannot  believe,  and  will  not  obey  you,  if  you  do  not 
preserve  this  channel  of  communication  sacred.  You  are 
now  punishing  the  colonies  for  acting  on  distinctions,  held 
out  by  that  very  ministry  which  is  here  shining  in  riches,  in 

20  favour,  and  in  power ;  and  urging  the  punishment  of  the  very 
offence  to  which  they  had  themselves  been  the  tempters. 

Sir,  if  reasons  respecting  simply  your  own  commerce, 
which  is  your  own  convenience,  were  the  sole  ground  of  the 
repeal  of  the  five  duties ;  why  does  Lord  Hillsborough,  in 

25  disclaiming  in  the  name  of  the  king  and  ministry  their  ever 
having  had  an  intent  to  tax  for  revenue,  mention  it  as  the 
means  "of  re-establishing  the  confidence  and  affection  of 
the  colonies?"  Is  it  a  way  of  soothing  others,  to  assure  them 
that  you  will  take  good  care  of  yourself?  The  medium,  the 

30  only  medium,  for  regaining  their  affection  and  confidence, 
is,  that  you  will  take  off  something  oppressive  to  their  minds. 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  21 

Sir,  the  letter  strongly  enforces  that  idea :  for  though  the 
repeal  of  the  taxes  is  promised  on  commercial  principles, 
yet  the  means  of  counteracting  "  the  insinuations  of  men 
with  factious  and  seditious  views,"  is,  by  a  disclaimer  of  the 
intention  of  taxing  for  revenue,  as  a  constant,  invariable  sen-  5 
timent  and  rule  of  conduct  in  the  government  of  America. 

I  remember  that  the  noble  lord  on  the  floor,  not  in  a 
former  debate  to  be  sure,  (it  would  be  disorderly  to  refer  to 
it,  I  suppose  I  read  it  somewhere,)  but  the  noble  lord  was 
pleased  to  say,  that  he  did  not  conceive  how  it  could  enter  10 
into  the  head  of  man  to  impose  such  taxes  as  those  of  1767  ; 
I  mean  those  taxes  which  he  voted  for  imposing,  and  voted 
for  repealing ;  as  being  taxes  contrary  to  all  the  principles 
of  commerce,  laid  on  British  manufactures. 

I  dare  say  the  noble  lord  is  perfectly  well  read,  because   15 
the  duty  of  his  particular  office  requires  he  should  be  so,  in 
all  our  revenue  laws  ;  and  in  the  policy  which  is  to  be  col 
lected  out  of  them.     Now,  Sir,  when  he  had  read  this  act  of 
American  revenue,  and  a  little  recovered  from  his  astonish 
ment,  I  suppose  he  made  one  step  retrograde  (it  is  but  one)   20 
and  looked  at  the  act  which  stands  just  before  in  the  statute- 
book.     The  American  revenue  act  is  the  forty-fifth  chapter ; 
the  other  to  which  I  refer  is  the  forty-fourth  of  the  same 
session.     These  two  acts  are   both  to  the  same  purpose ; 
both  revenue  acts ;  both  taxing  out  of  the  kingdom ;  and  25 
both  taxing  British  manufactures  exported.     As  the   forty- 
fifth  is  an  act  for  raising  a  revenue  in  America,  the  forty- 
fourth  is  an  act  for  raising  a  revenue  in  the  Isle  of  Man.1 
The  two  acts  perfectly  agree  in  all  respects,  except  one.     In 
the  act  for  taxing  the  Isle  of  Man,  the  noble  lord  will  find  30 
(not,  as  in  the  American  act,  four  or  five  articles)  but  almost 


22  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

the  whole  body  of  British  manufactures,  taxed  from  two  and 
a  half  to  fifteen  per  cent.,  and  some  articles,  such  as  that  of 
spirits,  a  great  deal  higher.  You  did  not  think  it  uncom 
mercial  to  tax  the  whole  mass  of  your  manufactures,  and,  let 

5  me  add,  your  agriculture  too ;  for,  I  now  recollect,  British 
corn  is  there  also  taxed  up  to  ten  per  cent.,  and  this  too  in 
the  very  head  quarters,  the  very  citadel  of  smuggling,  the 
Isle  of  Man.  Now  will  the  noble  lord  condescend  to  tell 
me  why  he  repealed  the  taxes  on  your  manufactures  sent 

10  out  to  America,  and  not  the  taxes  on  the  manufactures 
exported  to  the  Isle  of  Man?  The  principle  was  exactly 
the  same,  the  objects  charged  infinitely  more  extensive,  the 
duties,  without  comparison,  higher.  Why?  Why,  notwith 
standing  all  his  childish  pretexts,  because  the  taxes  were 

15  quietly  submitted  to  in  the  Isle  of  Man ;  and  because  they 
raised  a  flame  in  America.  Your  reasons  were  political,  not 
commercial.  The  repeal  was  made,  as  Lord  Hillsborough's 
letter  well  expresses  it,  to  regain  "  the  confidence  and  affec 
tion  of  the  colonies,  on  which  the  glory  and  safety  of  the 

20  British  empire  depend."  A  wise  and  just  motive  surely,  if 
ever  there  was  such.  But  the  mischief  and  dishonour  is, 
that  you  have  not  done  what  you  had  given  the  colonies  just 
cause  to  expect,  when  your  ministers  disclaimed  the  idea  of 
taxes  for  a  revenue.  There  is  nothing  simple,  nothing  manly, 

25  nothing  ingenuous,  open,  decisive,  or  steady,  in  the  proceed 
ing,  with  regard  either  to  the  continuance  or  the  repeal  of 
the  taxes.  The  whole  has  an  air  of  littleness  and  fraud. 
The  article  of  tea  is  slurred  over  in  the  circular  letter,  as  it 
were  by  accident  —  nothing  is  said  of  a  resolution  either  to 

30  keep  that  tax,  or  to  give  it  up.  There  is  no  fair  dealing  in 
any  part  of  the  transaction. 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION.  23 

If  you  mean  to  follow  your  true  motive  and  your  public 
faith,  give  up  your  tax  on  tea  for  raising  a  revenue,  the  prin 
ciple  of  which  has,  in  effect,  been  disclaimed  in  your  name ; 
and  which  produces  you  no  advantage;  no,  not  a  penny. 
Or,  if  you  choose  to  go  on  with  a  poor  pretence  instead  of  a  5 
solid  reason,  and  will  still  adhere  to  your  cant  of  commerce, 
you  have  ten  thousand  times  more  strong  commercial  reasons 
for  giving  up  this  duty  on  tea,  than  for  abandoning  the  five 
others  that  you  have  already  renounced. 

The  American  consumption  of  teas  is  annually,  I  believe,  10 
worth  ^£300,000  at  the  least  farthing.      If  you  urge  the 
American  violence  as  a  justification  of  your  perseverance  in 
enforcing  this  tax,  you  know  that  you  can  never  answer  this 
plain  question  —  Why  did  you  repeal  the  others  given  in  the 
same  act,  whilst  the  very  same  violence  subsisted  ? —  But  you  15 
did  not  find  the  violence  cease  upon  that  concession.  —  No  ! 
because  the  concession  was  far  short  of  satisfying  the  prin 
ciple  which  Lord  Hillsborough  had  abjured ;   or  even  the 
pretence  on  which  the  repeal  of  the  other  taxes  was  an 
nounced  ;  and  because,  by  enabling  the  East  India  Company  20 
to  open  a  shop  for  defeating  the  American  resolution  not  to 
pay  that  specific  tax,  you  manifestly  showed  a  hankering 
after  the  principle  of  the  act  which  you  formerly  had  re 
nounced.     Whatever  road  you  take  leads  to  a  compliance 
with  this  motion.     It  opens  to  you  at  the  end  of  every  vista.  25 
Your  commerce,  your  policy,  your  promises,  your  reasons, 
your  pretences,  your  consistency,  your  inconsistency  —  all 
jointly  oblige  you  to  this  repeal.1 

But  still  it  sticks  in  our  throats,  if  we  go  so  far,  the  Ameri 
cans  will  go  farther.     We  do  not  know  that.     We  ought,  30 
from  experience,  rather  to  presume  the  contrary.     Do  we 


24  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION, 

not  know  for  certain  that  the  Americans  are  going  on  as  fast 
as  possible,  whilst  we  refuse  to  gratify  them  ?  Can  they  do 
more,  or  can  they  do  worse,  if  we  yield  this  point  ?  I  think 
this  concession  will  rather  fix  a  turnpike  to  prevent  their 

5  further  progress.  It  is  impossible  to  answer  for  bodies  of 
men.  But  I  am  sure  the  natural  effect  of  fidelity,  clemency, 
kindness  in  governors,  is  peace,  good-will,  order,  and  esteem 
on  the  part  of  the  governed.  I  would  certainly,  at  least, 
give  these  fair  principles  a  fair  trial ;  which,  since  the  mak- 

10  ing  of  this  act  to  this  hour,  they  never  have  had. 

Sir,  the  honourable  gentleman  having  spoken  what  he 
thought  necessary  upon  the  narrow  part  of  the  subject,  I 
have  given  him,  I  hope,  a  satisfactory  answer.  He  next 
presses  me  by  a  variety  of  direct  challenges  and  oblique 

15  reflections  to  say  something  on  the  historical  part.  I  shall 
therefore,  Sir,  open  myself  fully  on  that  important  and  deli 
cate  subject ;  not  for  the  sake  of  telling  you  a  long  story, 
(which  I  know,  Mr.  Speaker,  you  are  not  particularly  fond 
of,)  but  for  the  sake  of  the  weighty  instruction  that,  I  flatter 

20  myself,  will  necessarily  result  from  it.  I  shall  not  be  longer, 
if  I  can  help  it,  than  so  serious  a  matter  requires. 

Permit  me  then,  Sir,  to  lead  your  attention  very  far  back ; 
back  to  the  act  of  navigation  ; l  the  corner-stone  of  the  policy 
of  this  country  with  regard  to  its  colonies.  Sir,  that  policy 

25  was,  from  the  beginning,  purely  commercial ;  and  the  com 
mercial  system  was  wholly  restrictive.     It  was  the  system  of 
a  monopoly.     No  trade  was  let  loose  from  that  constraint, 
but  merely  to  enable  the  colonists  to  dispose  of  what,  in  the 
course  of  your  trade,  you  could  not  take  ;  or  to  enable  them 

3°  to  dispose  of  such  articles  as  we  forced  upon  them,  and  for 
which,  without  some  degree  of  liberty,  they  could  not  pay. 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  25 

Hence  all  your  specific  and  detailed  enumerations  :  hence 
the  innumerable  checks  and  counterchecks  :  hence  that  in 
finite  variety  of  paper  chains  by  which  you  bind  together  this 
complicated  system  of  the  colonies.  This  principle  of  com 
mercial  monopoly  runs  through  no  less  than  twenty-nine  acts  5 
of  parliament,  from  the  year  1660  to  the  unfortunate  period 
of  1764. 

In  all  those  acts  the  system  of  commerce  is  established,  as 
that,  from  whence  alone  you  proposed  to  make  the  colonies 
contribute  (I  mean  directly  and  by  the  operation  of  your  10 
superintending  legislative  power)  to  the  strength  of  the  em 
pire.     I  venture  to  say,  that  during  that  whole  period,  a 
parliamentary  revenue  from  thence  was  never  once  in  con 
templation.     Accordingly,  in  all  the  number  of  laws  passed 
with  regard  to  the  plantations,  the  words  which  distinguish  15 
revenue  laws,  specifically  as  such,  were,  I  think,  premeditately 
avoided.     I  do  not  say,  Sir,  that  a  form  of  words  alters  the 
nature  of  the  law,  or  abridges  the  power  of  the  lawgiver.     It 
certainly  does  not.     However,  titles  and  formal  preambles 
are  not  always  idle  words ;  and  the  lawyers  frequently  argue  20 
from  them.     I  state  these  facts  to  show,  not  what  was  your 
right,  but  what  has  been  your  settled  policy.     Our  revenue 
laws  have  usually  a  title  t  purporting  their  being  grants  ;  and 
the  words  give  and  grant  usually  precede  the  enacting  parts. 
Although  duties  were  imposed  on  America  in  acts  of  King  25 
Charles  II.  and  in  acts  of  King  William,  no  one  title  of  giving 
"  an  aid  to  his  Majesty,"  or  any  other  of  the  usual  titles  to 
revenue  acts,  was  to  be  found  in  any  of  them  till  1764  ;  nor 
were  the  words  "  give  and  grant  "  in  any  preamble  until  the 
6th  of  George  II.     However,  the  title  of  this  act  of  George  30 
II.,  notwithstanding   the  words   of  donation,  considers   it 


26  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION. 

merely  as  a  regulation  of  trade,  "  an  act  for  the  better  secur 
ing  of  the  trade  of  his  Majesty's  sugar  colonies  in  America." 
This  act  was  made  on  a  compromise  of  all,  and  at  the  express 
desire  of  a  part,  of  the  colonies  themselves.  It  was  therefore 

5  in  some  measure  with  their  consent ;  and  having  a  title 
directly  purporting  only  a  commercial  regulation,  and  being 
in  truth  nothing  more,  the  words  were  passed  by,  at  a  time 
when  no  jealousy  was  entertained,  and  things  were  little 
scrutinized.  Even  Governor  Bernard,1  in  his  second  printed 

10  letter,  dated  in  1 763,  gives  it  as  his  opinion,  that  "  it  was  an 
act  of  prohibition,  not  of  revenue."  This  is  certainly  true, 
that  no  act  avowedly  for  the  purpose  of  revenue,  and  with 
the  ordinary  title  and  recital  taken  together,  is  found  in  the 
statute  book  until  the  year  1764.  All  before  this  period 

15  stood  on  commercial  regulation  and  restraint.  The  scheme 
of  a  colony  revenue  by  British  authority  appeared  therefore 
to  the  Americans  in  the  light  of  a  great  innovation ;  the 
words  of  Governor  Bernard's  ninth  letter,  written  in  Nov. 
1765,  state  this  idea  very  strongly;  "it  must,"  says  he, 

20  "  have  been  supposed,  such  an  innovation  as  a  parliamen 
tary  taxation  would  cause  a  great  alarm,  and  meet  with  much 
opposition  in  most  parts  of  America ;  it  was  quite  new  to  the 
people,  and  had  no  visible  bounds  set  to  it."  After  stating 
the  weakness  of  government  there,  he  says,  "  was  this  a  time 

25  to  introduce  so  great  a  novelty  as  a  parliamentary  inland 
taxation  in  America?"  Whatever  the  right  might  have 
been,  this  mode  of  using  it  was  absolutely  new  in  policy  and 
practice. 

Sir,  they  who  are  friends  to  the  schemes  of  American  rev- 

30  enue  say,  that  the  commercial  restraint  is  full  as  hard  a  law 
for  America  to  live  under.  I  think  so  too.  I  think  it,  if 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION.  27 

uncompensated,  to  be  a  condition  of  as  rigorous  servitude 
as  men  can  be  subject  to.  But  America  bore  it  from  the 
fundamental  act  of  navigation  until  1764.  Why?  because 
men  do  bear  the  inevitable  constitution  of  their  original 
nature  with  all  its  infirmities.  The  act  of  navigation  at-  5 
tended  the  colonies  from  their  infancy,  grew  with  their 
growth,  and  strengthened  with  their  strength.  They  were 
confirmed  in  obedience  to  it,  even  more  by  usage  than  by 
law.  They  scarcely  had  remembered  a  time  when  they  were 
not  subject  to  such  restraint.  Besides,  they  were  indemni-  10 
fied  for  it  by  a  pecuniary  compensation.  Their  monopolist 
happened  to  be  one  of  the  richest  men  in  the  world.  By 
his  immense  capital  (primarily  employed,  not  for  their  bene 
fit,  but  his  own)  they  were  enabled  to  proceed  with  their 
fisheries,  their  agriculture,  their  ship-building,  (and  their  15 
trade  too  within  the  limits,)  in  such  a  manner  as  got  far  the 
start  of  the  slow,  languid  operations  of  unassisted  nature. 
This  capital  was  a  hot-bed  to  them.  Nothing  in  the  history 
of  mankind  is  like  their  progress.  For  my  part,  I  never  cast 
an  eye  on  their  flourishing  commerce,  and  their  cultivated  20 
and  commodious  life,  but  they  seem  to  me  rather  ancient 
nations  grown  to  perfection  through  a  long  series  of  fortunate 
events,  and  a  train  of  successful  industry,  accumulating 
wealth  in  many  centuries,  than  the  colonies  of  yesterday; 
than  a  set  of  miserable  outcasts,  a  few  years  ago,  not  so  25 
much  sent  as  thrown  out,  on  the  bleak  and  barren  shore  of 
a  desolate  wilderness,  three  thousand  miles  from  all  civilized 
intercourse. 

All  this  was  done  by  England,  whilst  England   pursued 
trade,  and   forgot   revenue.     You  not  only  acquired  com-  30 
merce,  but  you  actually  created  the  very  objects  of  trade  in 


28  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

America ;  and  by  that  creation  you  raised  the  trade  of  this 
kingdom  at  least  fourfold.  America  had  the  compensation 
of  your  capital,  which  made  her  bear  her  servitude.  She 
had  another  compensation,  which  you  are  now  going  to  take 

5  away  from  her.  She  had,  except  the  commercial  restraint, 
every  characteristic  mark  of  a  free  people  in  all  her  internal 
concerns.  She  had  the  image  of  the  British  constitution. 
She  had  the  substance.  She  was  taxed  by  her  own  repre 
sentatives.  She  chose  most  of  her  own  magistrates.  She 

10  paid  them  all.  She  had  in  effect  the  sole  disposal  of  her 
own  internal  government.  This  whole  state  of  commercial 
servitude  and  civil  liberty,  taken  together,  is  certainly  not 
perfect  freedom ;  but  comparing  it  with  the  ordinary  cir 
cumstances  of  human  nature,  it  was  a  happy  and  a  liberal 

15   condition. 

I  know,  Sir,  that  great  and  not  unsuccessful  pains  have 
been  taken  to  inflame  our  minds  by  an  outcry,  in  this  House 
and  out  of  it,  that  in  America  the  act  of  navigation  neither 
is,  nor  ever  was,  obeyed.  But  if  you  take  the  colonies 

20  through,  I  affirm,  that  its  authority  never  was  disputed ; 
that  it  was  nowhere  disputed  for  any  length  of  time ;  and, 
on  the  whole,  that  it  was  well  observed.  Wherever  the  act 
passed  hard,  many  individuals  indeed  evaded  it.  This  is 
nothing.  These  scattered  individuals  never  denied  the  law, 

25  and  never  obeyed  it.  Just  as  it  happens  whenever  the  laws 
of  trade,  whenever  the  laws  of  revenue,  press  hard  upon  the 
people  in  England ;  in  that  case  all  your  shores  are  full  of 
contraband.  Your  right  to  give  a  monopoly  to  the  East 
India  Company,  your  right  to  lay  immense  duties  on  French 

30  brandy,  are  not  disputed  in  England.  You  do  not  make 
this  charge  on  any  man.  But  you  know  that  there  is  not  a 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  29 

creek  from  Pentland  Frith  to  the  Isle  of  Wight,  in  which 
they  do  not  smuggle  immense  quantities  of  teas,  East  India 
goods,  and  brandies.  I  take  it  for  granted,  that  the  authority 
of  Governor  Bernard  in  this  point  is  indisputable.  Speaking 
of  these  laws  as  they  regarded  that  part  of  America  now  in  5 
so  unhappy  a  condition,  he  says,  "  I  believe  they  are  no 
where  better  supported  than  in  this  province ;  I  do  not 
pretend  that  it  is  entirely  free  from  a  breach  of  these  laws ; 
but  that  such  a  breach,  if  discovered,  is  justly  punished." 
What  more  can  you  say  of  the  obedience  to  any  laws  in  any  10 
country?  An  obedience  to  these  laws  formed  the  acknowl 
edgment,  instituted  by  yourselves,  for  your  superiority ;  and 
was  the  payment  you  originally  imposed  for  your  protection. 

Whether  you  were    right  or  wrong  in   establishing  the 
colonies  on  the  principles  of  commercial  monopoly,  rather  15 
than  on  that  of  revenue,  is  at  this  day  a  problem  of  mere 
speculation.     You  cannot  have  both  by  the  same  authority. 
To  join  together  the  restraints  of  an  universal  internal  and 
external  monopoly,  with  an  universal  internal  and  external 
taxation,   is  an  unnatural  union ;    perfect,  uncompensated  20 
slavery.     You   have    long  since   decided   for   yourself  and 
them  ;  and  you  and  they  have  prospered  exceedingly  under 
that  decision. 

This  nation,  Sir,  never  thought  of  departing  from  that 
choice  until  the  period  immediately  on  the  close  of  the  25 
last  war.     Then  a  scheme   of  government   new  in   many 
things  seemed  to  have  been  adopted.     I  saw,  or  I  thought 
I  saw,  several  symptoms  of  a  great  change,  whilst  I  sat  in 
your  gallery,  a  good  while  before  I  had  the  honour  of  a  seat 
in  this  House.     At  that  period  the  necessity  was  established  30 
of  keeping  up   no   less  than  twenty  new  regiments,  with 


30  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

twenty  colonels  capable  of  seats  in  this  House.  This 
scheme  was  adopted  with  very  general  applause  from  all 
sides,  at  the  very  time  that,  by  your  conquests  in  America, 
your  danger  from  foreign  attempts  in  that  part  of  the 

5  world  was  much  lessened,  or  indeed  rather  quite  over. 
When  this  huge  increase  of  military  establishment  was 
resolved  on,  a  revenue  was  to  be  found  to  support  so  great 
a  burthen.  Country  gentlemen,  the  great  patrons  of  econ 
omy,  and  the  great  resisters  of  a  standing  armed  force, 

10  would  not  have  entered  with  much  alacrity  into  the  vote 
for  so  large  and  so  expensive  an  army,  if  they  had  been 
very  sure  that  they  were  to  continue  to  pay  for  it.  But 
hopes  of  another  kind  were  held  out  to  them  ;  and  in  par 
ticular,  I  well  remember,  that  Mr.  Townshend,  in  a  brilliant 

15  harangue  on  this  subject,  did  dazzle  them,  by  playing 
before  their  eyes  the  image  of  a  revenue  to  be  raised  in 
America. 

Here  began  to  dawn  the  first  glimmerings  of  this  new 
colony   system.     It   appeared    more    distinctly   afterwards, 

20  when  it  was  devolved  upon  a  person  to  whom,  on  other 
accounts,  this  country  owes  very  great  obligations.  I  do 
believe,  that  he  had  a  very  serious  desire  to  benefit  the 
public.  But  with  no  small  study  of  the  detail,  he  did  not 
seem  to  have  his  view,  at  least  equally,  carried  to  the  total 

25  circuit  of  our  affairs.  He  generally  considered  his  objects 
in  lights  that  were  rather  too  detached.  Whether  the  busi 
ness  of  an  American  revenue  was  imposed  upon  him 
altogether;  whether  it  was  entirely  the  result  of  his  own 
speculation ;  or,  what  is  more  probable,  that  his  own  ideas 

30  rather  coincided  with  the  instructions  he  had  received ; 
certain  it  is,  that,  with  the  best  intentions  in  the  world,  he 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  31 

first  brought  this  fatal  scheme  into  form,  and  established  it 
by  act  of  parliament. 

No  man  can  believe,  that  at  this  time  of  day  I  mean  to 
lean  on  the  venerable  memory  of  a  great  man,  whose  loss 
we  deplore  in  common.     Our  little  party  differences  have    5 
been  long  ago  composed ;  and  I  have  acted  more  with  him, 
and  certainly  with   more  pleasure  with  him,  than  ever  I 
acted  against  him.     Undoubtedly  Mr.  Grenville  was  a  first- 
rate  figure  in  this  country.     With  a  masculine  understand 
ing,  and  a  stout  and  resolute  heart,  he  had  an  application  10 
undissipated  and  unwearied.'  He  took  public  business,  not 
as  a  duty  which  he  was  to  fulfil,  but  as  a  pleasure  he  was 
to  enjoy ;    and  he  seemed  to  have  no  delight  out  of  this 
House,  except  in  such  things  as  some  way  related  to  the 
business  that  was  to  be  done  within  it.     If  he  was  ambi-  15 
tious,  I  will  say  this  for  him,  his  ambition  was  of  a  noble 
and  generous  strain.     It  was  to  raise  himself,  not  by  the 
low,  pimping  politics  of  a   court,  but   to  win   his  way  to 
power,  through  the  laborious  gradations  of  public  service ; 
and  to  secure  to  himself  a  well-earned  rank  in  parliament,  20 
by  a  thorough  knowledge  of  its  constitution,  and  a  perfect 
practice  in  all  its  business. 

Sir,  if  such  a  man  fell  into  errors,  it  must  be  from  defects 
not  intrinsical ;  they  must  be  rather  sought  in  the  particular 
habits  of  his  life  ;  which,  though  they  do  not  alter  the  ground-  25 
work  of  character,  yet  tinge  it  with  their  own  hue.     He  was 
bred  in  a  profession.     He  was  bred  to  the  law,  which  is,  in 
my  opinion,  one  of  the  first  and  noblest  of  human  sciences  ; 
a  science  which  does  more  to  quicken  and  invigorate  the 
understanding,  than  all  the  other  kinds  of  learning  put  to-  30 
gether;   but  it  is  not  apt,  except  in  persons  very  happily 


32  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION. 

born,  to  open  and  to  liberalize  the  mind  exactly  in  the  same 
proportion.  Passing  from  that  study  he  did  not  go  very 
largely  into  the  world ;  but  plunged  into  business ;  I  mean 
into  the  business  of  office ;  and  the  limited  and  fixed 

5  methods  and  forms  established  there.  Much  knowledge  is 
to  be  had  undoubtedly  in  that  line  ;  and  there  is  no  knowl 
edge  which  is  not  valuable.  But  it  may  be  truly  said,  that 
men  too  much  conversant  in  office  are  rarely  minds  of 
remarkable  enlargement.  Their  habits  of  office  are  apt  to 

10  give  them  a  turn  to  think  the  substance  of  business  not 
to  be  much  more  important  than  the  forms  in  which  it  is 
conducted.  These  forms  are  adapted  to  ordinary  occa 
sions  ;  and  therefore  persons  who  are  nurtured  in  office  do 
admirably  well  as  long  as  things  go  on  in  their  common 

15  order;  but  when  the  high  roads  are  broken  up,  and  the 
waters  out,  when  a  new  and  troubled  scene  is  opened,  and 
the  file  affords  no  precedent,  then  it  is  that  a  greater 
knowledge  of  mankind,  and  a  far  more  extensive  compre 
hension  of  things,  is  requisite,  than  ever  office  gave,  or  than 

20  office  can  ever  give.1  Mr.  Grenville  thought  better  of  the 
wisdom  and  power  of  human  legislation  than  in  truth  it 
deserves.  He  conceived,  and  many  conceived  along  with 
him,  that  the  flourishing  trade  of  this  country  was  greatly 
owing  to  law  and  institution,  and  not  quite  so  much  to 

25  liberty ;  for  but  too  many  are  apt  to  believe  regulation  to  be 
commerce,  and  taxes  to  be  revenue.  Among  regulations, 
that  which  stood  first  in  reputation  was  his  idol.  I  mean 
the  act  of  navigation.  He  has  often  professed  it  to  be  so. 
The  policy  of  that  act  is,  I  readily  admit,  in  many  respects, 

30  well  understood.  But  I  do  say,  that  if  the  act  be  suffered 
to  run  the  full  length  of  its  principle,  and  is  not  changed 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  33 

and  modified  according  to* the  change  of  times  and  the 
fluctuation  of  circumstances,  it  must  do  great  mischief,  and 
frequently  even  defeat  its  own  purpose. 

After  the  war,  and  in  the  last  years  of  it,  the  trade  of 
America  had  increased  far  beyond  the  speculations  of  the    5 
most  sanguine  imaginations.     It  swelled  out  on  every  side. 
It  filled  all  its  proper  channels  to  the  brim.     It  overflowed 
with  a  rich  redundance,  and  breaking  its  banks  on  the  right 
and  on  the  left,  it  spread  out  upon  some  places  where  it  was 
indeed  improper,  upon  others  where  it  was  only  irregular.   10 
It  is  the  nature  of  all  greatness  not  to  be  exact ;  and  great 
trade  will  always  be  attended  with  considerable  abuses.     The 
contraband  will  always  keep  pace  in  some  measure  with  the 
fair  trade.     It  should  stand  as  a  fundamental  maxim,  that  no 
vulgar  precaution  ought  to  be  employed  in  the  cure  of  evils,   15 
which  are  closely  connected  with  the  cause  of  our  prosperity. 
Perhaps  this  great  person  turned  his  eyes  somewhat  less 
than  was  just  towards  the  incredible   increase  of  the  fair 
trade  ;  and  looked  with  something  of  too  exquisite  a  jealousy 
towards  the  contraband.     He  certainly  felt  a  singular  degree  20 
of  anxiety  on  the  subject;  and  even  began  to  act  from  that 
passion  earlier  than  is  commonly  imagined.     For  whilst  he 
was  first  lord  of  the   admiralty,  though  not  strictly  called 
upon  in  his  official  line,  he  presented  a  very  strong  memorial 
to  the  lords  of  the  treasury,  (my  Lord  Bute  was  then  at  the  25 
head  of  the  board,)  heavily  complaining  of  the  growth  of  the 
illicit  commerce  in  America.     Some  mischief  happened  even 
at  that  time  from  this  over-earnest  zeal.     Much  greater  hap 
pened  afterwards,  when  it  operated  with  greater  power  in 
the  highest  department  of  the  finances.     The  bonds  of  the  30 
act  of  navigation  were  straitened  so  much,  that  America  was 


34  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXA  TION. 

on  the  point  of  having  no  trade;  either  contraband  or  legiti 
mate.  They  found,  under  the  construction  and  execution 
then  used,  the  act  no  longer  tying,  but  actually  strangling 
them.  All  this  coming  with  new  enumerations  of  commod- 

5  ities ;  with  regulations  which  in  a  manner  put  a  stop  to  the 
mutual  coasting  intercourse  of  the  colonies ;  with  the  ap 
pointment  of  courts  of  admiralty1  under  various  improper 
circumstances ;  with  a  sudden  extinction  of  the  paper  cur 
rencies  ;2  with  a  compulsory  provision  for  the  quartering  of 

10  soldiers;  the  people  of  America  thought  themselves  pro 
ceeded  against  as  delinquents,  or,  at  best,  as  people  under 
suspicion  of  delinquency;  and  in  such  a  manner  as,  they 
imagined,  their  recent  services  in  the  war  did  not  at  all  merit.3 
Any  of  these  innumerable  regulations,  perhaps,  would  not 

15  have  alarmed  alone  ;  some  might  be  thought  reasonable ;  the 
multitude  struck  them  with  terror. 

But  the  grand  manoeuvre  in  that  business  of  new  regulat 
ing  the  colonies,  was  the  i5th  act  of  the  fourth  of  George 
III. ;  which,  besides  containing  several  of  the  matters  to 

20  which  I  have  just  alluded,  opened  a  new  principle  ;  and  here 
properly  began  the  second  period  of  the  policy  of  this  coun 
try  with  regard  to  the  colonies ;  by  which  the  scheme  of  a 
regular  plantation  parliamentary  revenue  was  adopted  in 
theory,  and  settled  in  practice.  A  revenue  not  substituted 

25  in  the  place  of,  but  superadded  to,  a  monopoly ;  which 
monopoly  was  enforced  at  the  same  time  with  additional 
strictness,  and  the  execution  put  into  military  hands. 

This  act,  Sir,  had  for  the  first  time  the  title  of  "  granting 
duties  in  the  colonies  and  plantations  of  America ;  "  and  for 

30  the  first  time  it  was  asserted  in  the  preamble,  "  that  it  was 
just  and  necessary  that  a  revenue  should  be  raised  there." 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION.  35 

Then  came  the  technical  words  of  "giving  and  granting," 
and  thus  a  complete  American  revenue  act  was  made  in  all 
the  forms,  and  with  a  full  avowal  of  the  right,  equity,  policy, 
and  even  necessity  of  taxing  the  colonies,  without  any  formal 
consent  of  theirs.  There  are  contained  also  in  the  preamble  5 
to  that  act  these  very  remarkable  words  —  the  commons,  etc. 
—  "being  desirous  to  make  some  provision  in  the  present 
session  of  parliament  towards  raising  the  said  revenue."  By 
these  words  it  appeared  to  the  colonies,  that  this  act  was 
but  a.  beginning  of  sorrows ;  that  every  session  was  to  pro-  10 
duce  something  of  the  same  kind ;  that  we  were  to  go  on, 
from  day  to  day,  in  charging  them  with  such  taxes  as  we 
pleased,  for  such  a  military  force  as  we  should  think  proper. 
Had  this  plan  been  pursued,  it  was  evident  that  the  provin 
cial  assemblies,  in  which  the  Americans  felt  all  their  portion  15 
of  importance,  and  beheld  their  sole  image  of  freedom,  were 
ipso  facto  annihilated.  This  ill  prospect  before  them  seemed 
to  be  boundless  in  extent,  and  endless  in  duration.  Sir,  they 
were  not  mistaken.  The  ministry  valued  themselves  when 
this  act  passed,  and  when  they  gave  notice  of  the  stamp  act,  20 
that  both  of  the  duties  came  very  short  of  their  ideas  of 
American  taxation.  Great  was  the  applause  of  this  measure 
here.  In  England  we  cried  out  for  new  taxes  on  America, 
whilst  they  cried  out  that  they  were  nearly  crushed  with 
those  which  the  war  and  their  own  grants  had  brought  upon  25 
them. 

Sir,  it  has  been  said  in  the  debate,  that  when  the  first 
American  revenue  act  (the  act  in  1764,  imposing  the  port 
duties)  passed,  the  Americans  did  not  object  to  the  principle.1 
It  is  true  they  touched  it  but  very  tenderly.     It  was  not  a  30 
direct  attack.     They  were,  it  is  true,  as  yet  novices ;  as  yet 


36  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

unaccustomed  to  direct  attacks  upon  any  of  the  rights  of 
parliament.  The  duties  were  port  duties,  like  those  they  had 
been  accustomed  to  bear ;  with  this  difference,  that  the  title 
was  not  the  same,  the  preamble  not  the  same,  and  the  spirit 

5  altogether  unlike.  But  of  what  service  is  this  observation  to 
the  cause  of  those  that  make  it  ?  It  is  a  full  refutation  of  the 
pretence  for  their  present  cruelty  to  America ;  for  it  shows, 
out  of  their  own  mouths,  that  our  colonies  were  backward  to 
enter  into  the  present  vexatious  and  ruinous  controversy. 

10  There  is  also  another  circulation  abroad,  (spread  with  a 
malignant  intention,  which  I  cannot  attribute  to  those  who 
say  the  same  thing  in  this  House,)  that  Mr.  Grenville  gave 
the  colony  agents  an  option  for  their  assemblies  to  tax  them 
selves,  which  they  had  refused.  I  find  that  much  stress  is 

15  laid  on  this,  as  a  fact.  However,  it  happens  neither  to  be 
true  nor  possible.  I  will  observe  first,  that  Mr.  Grenville 
never  thought  fit  to  make  this  apology  for  himself  in  the 
innumerable  debates  that  were  had  upon  the  subject.  He 
might  have  proposed  to  the  colony  agents,  that  they  should 

20  agree  in  some  mode  of  taxation  as  the  ground  of  an  act  of 
parliament.  But  he  never  could  have  proposed  that  they 
should  tax  themselves  on  requisition,  which  is  the  assertion 
of  the  day.  Indeed,  Mr.  Grenville  well  knew,  that  the 
colony  agents  could  have  no  general  powers  to  consent  to  it ; 

25  and  they  had  no  time  to  consult  their  assemblies  for  particular 
powers,  before  he  passed  his  first  revenue  act.  If  you  com 
pare  dates,  you  will  find  it  impossible.  Burthened  as  the 
agents  knew  the  colonies  were  at  that  time,  they  could  not 
give  the  least  hope  of  such  grants.  His  own  favourite  gov- 

30  ernor  was  of  opinion  that  the  Americans  were  not  then  tax 
able  objects : 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION.  37 

"  Nor  was  the  time  less  favourable  to  the  equity  of  such  a 
taxation.  I  don't  mean  to  dispute  the  reasonableness  of 
America  contributing  to  the  charges  of  Great  Britain  when 
she  is  able ;  nor,  I  believe,  would  the  Americans  themselves 
have  disputed  it,  at  a  proper  time  and  season.  But  it  should  5 
be  considered  that  the  American  governments  themselves  have, 
in  the  prosecution  of  the  late  war,  contracted  very  large  debts; 
which  it  will  take  some  years  to  pay  off,  and  in  the  mean  time 
occasion  very  burdensome  taxes  for  that  purpose  only.  For 
instance,  this  government,  which  is  as  much  beforehand  as  10 
any,  raises  every  year  £$>],$oo  sterling  for  sinking  their  debt, 
and  must  continue  it  for  four  years  longer  at  least  before  it 
will  be  clear." 

These  are  the  words  of  Governor  Bernard's  letter  to  a 
member  of  the  old  ministry,  and  which  he  has  since  printed.   15 
Mr.  Grenville  could  not  have  made  this  proposition  to  the 
agents,  for  another  reason.     He  was  of  opinion,  which  he  has 
declared  in  this  House  an  hundred  times,  that  the  colonies 
could  not  legally  grant  any  revenue  to  the  crown  ;  and  that 
infinite  mischiefs  would  be  the  consequence  of  such  a  power.  20 
When  Mr.  Grenville  had  passed  the  first  revenue  act,  and  in 
the  same  session  had  made  this  House  come  to  a  resolution 
for  laying  a  stamp  duty  on  America,  between  that  time  and 
the  passing  the  stamp  act  into  a  law,  he  told  a  considerable 
and  most  respectable  merchant,  a  member  of  this  House,  25 
whom  I  am  truly  sorry  I  do  not  now  see  in  his  place,  when 
he  represented  against  this  proceeding,  that  if  the  stamp  duty 
was  disliked,  he  was  willing  to  exchange  it  for  any  other 
equally  productive  ;  but  that,  if  he  objected  to  the  Americans 
being  taxed  by  parliament,  he  might  save  himself  the  trouble  30 
of  the  discussion,  as  he  was  determined  on  the  measure. 


38  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

This  is  the  fact,  and,  if  you  please,  I  will  mention  a  very 
unquestionable  authority  for  it. 

Thus,  Sir,  I  have  disposed  of  this  falsehood.  But  false 
hood  has  a  perennial  spring.  It  is  said,  that  no  conjecture 

5  could  be  made  of  the  dislike  of  the  colonies  to  the  principle. 
This  is  as  untrue  as  the  other.  After  the  resolution  of  the 
House,  and  before  the  passing  of  the  stamp  act,  the  colonies 
of  Massachusetts  Bay  and  New  York  did  send  remonstrances, 
objecting  to  this  mode  of  parliamentary  taxation.  What  was 

10  the  consequence  ?  They  were  suppressed ;  they  were  put 
under  the  table,  notwithstanding  an  order  of  council  to  the 
contrary,  by  the  ministry  which  composed  the  very  council 
that  had  made  the  order :  and  thus  the  House  proceeded 
to  its  business  of  taxing  without  the  least  regular  knowledge 

15  of  the  objections  which  were  made  to  it.  But  to  give  that 
House  its  due,  it  was  not  over-desirous  to  receive  informa 
tion,  or  to  hear  remonstrance.  On  the  i5th  of  February, 
1 765,  whilst  the  stamp  act  was  under  deliberation,  they  re 
fused  with  scorn  even  so  much  as  to  receive  four  petitions 

20  presented  from  so  respectable  colonies  as  Connecticut,  Rhode 
Island,  Virginia,  and  Carolina ;  besides  one  from  the  traders 
of  Jamaica.  As  to  the  colonies,  they  had  no  alternative  left 
to  them,  but  to  disobey ;  or  to  pay  the  taxes  imposed  by 
that  parliament  which  was  not  suffered,  or  did  not  surfer 

2  5  itself,  even  to  hear  them  remonstrate  upon  the  subject. 

This  was  the  state  of  the  colonies  before  his  Majesty 
thought  fit  to  change  his  ministers.  It  stands  upon  no 
authority  of  mine.  It  is  proved  by  uncontrovertible  records. 
The  honourable  gentleman  has  desired  some  of  us  to  lay  our 

30  hands  upon  our  hearts,  and  answer  to  his  queries  upon  the 
historical  part  of  this  consideration ;  and  by  his  manner  (as 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  39 

well  as  my  eyes  could  discern  it)  he  seemed  to  address  him 
self  to  me. 

Sir,  I  will  answer  him  as"  clearly  as  I  am  able,  and  with 
great  openness;  I  have  nothing  to  conceal.     In  the  year 
sixty-five,  being  in  a  very  private  station,  far  enough  from    5 
any  line  of  business,  and  not  having  the  honour  of  a  seat  in 
this  House,  it  was  my  fortune,  unknowing  and  unknown  to 
the  then  ministry,  by  the  intervention  of  a  common  friend, 
to  become  connected  with  a  very  noble  person,  and  at  the 
head  of  the  treasury  department.     It  was  indeed  in  a  situa-  10 
tion1  of  little  rank  and  no  consequence,  suitable  to  the  medi 
ocrity  of  my  talents  and  pretensions.     But  a  situation  near 
enough  to  enable  me  to  see,  as  well  as  others,  what  was  going 
on ;  and  I  did  see  in  that  noble  person  such  sound  principles, 
such  an  enlargement  of  mind,  such  clear  and  sagacious  sense,   15 
and  such  unshaken  fortitude,  as  have  bound  me,  as  well  as 
others  much  better  than  me,  by  an  inviolable  attachment  to 
him  from  that  time  forward.     Sir,  Lord  Rockingham  very 
early  in  that  summer  received  a  strong  representation  from 
many  weighty  English  merchants  and  manufacturers,  from  20 
governors  of  provinces  and  commanders  of  men  of  war, 
against  almost  the  whole  of  the  American  commercial  regu 
lations  :  and  particularly  with  regard  to  the  total  ruin  which 
was  threatened  to  the  Spanish  trade.     I  believe,  Sir,  the 
noble  lord  soon  saw  his  way  in  this  business.     But  he  did  25 
not  rashly  determine  against  acts  which  it  might  be  supposed 
were  the  result  of  much   deliberation.     However,  Sir,  he 
scarcely  began  to  open  the  ground,  when  the  whole  veteran 
body  of  office  took  the  alarm.     A  violent  outcry  of  all  (ex 
cept  those  who  knew  and  felt  the  mischief)  was  raised  against  30 
any  alteration.     On  one  hand,  his  attempt  was  a  direct  vio- 


40  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION. 

lation  of  treaties  and  public  law ;  on  the  other,  the  act  of 
navigation  and  all  the  corps  of  trade  laws  were  drawn  up  in 
array  against  it. 

The  first  step  the  noble  lord  took,  was  to  have  the  opinion 

5  of  his  excellent,  learned,  and  ever-lamented  friend  the  late 
Mr.  Yorke,1  then  attorney-general,  on  the  point  of  law. 
When  he  knew  that  formally  and  officially,  which  in  sub 
stance  he  had  known  before,  he  immediately  despatched 
orders  to  redress  the  grievance.  But  I  will  say  it  for  the 

10  then  minister,  he  is  of  that  constitution  of  mind,  that  I  know 
he  would  have  issued,  on  the  same  critical  occasion,  the  very 
same  orders,  if  the  acts  of  trade  had  been,  as  they  were  not, 
directly  against  him ;  and  would  have  cheerfully  submitted 
to  the  equity  of  parliament  for  his  indemnity. 

15  On  the  conclusion  of  this  business  of  the  Spanish  trade, 
the  news  of  the  troubles,  on  account  of  the  stamp  act,  arrived 
in  England.  It  was  not  until  the  end  of  October  that  these 
accounts  were  received.  No  sooner  had  the  sound  of  that 
mighty  tempest  reached  us  in  England,  than  the  whole  of 

20  the  then  opposition,  instead  of  feeling  humbled  by  the  un 
happy  issue  of  their  measures,  seemed  to  be  infinitely  elated, 
and  cried  out,  that  the  ministry,  from  envy  to  the  glory  of 
their  predecessors,  were  prepared  to  repeal  the  stamp  act. 
Near  nine  years  after,  the  honourable  gentleman  takes  quite 

25  opposite  ground,  and  now  challenges  me  to  put  my  hand  to 
my  heart,  and  say,  whether  the  ministry  had  resolved  on  the 
repeal  till  a  considerable  time  after  the  meeting  of  parlia 
ment.  Though  I  do  not  very  well  know  what  the  honour 
able  gentleman  wishes  to  infer  from  the  admission,  or  from 

30  the  denial,  of  this  fact,  on  which  he  so  earnestly  adjures  me  ; 
I  do  put  my  hand  on  my  heart,  and  assure  him,  that  they  did 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  41 

not  come  to  a  resolution  directly  to  repeal.     They  weighed 
this  matter  as  its  difficulty  and  importance  required.     They 
considered   maturely  among   themselves.      They  consulted 
with  all  who  could  give  advice  or  information.     It  was  not 
determined  until  a  little  before  the  meeting  of  parliament ;    5 
but  it  was  determined,  and  the  main  lines  of  their  own  plan 
marked  out,  before  that  meeting.     Two  questions  arose  — 
(I  hope  I  am  not  going  into  a  narrative  troublesome  to  the 
House)  — 

[A  cry  of,  Go  on,  go  on.]  10 

The  first  of  the  two  considerations  was,  whether  the  repeal 
should  be  total,  or  whether  only  partial ;  taking  out  every 
thing  burthensome  and  productive,  and  reserving  only  an 
empty  acknowledgment,  such  as  a  stamp  on  cards  or  dice. 
The  other  question  was,  on  what  principle  the  act  should  be  15 
repealed  ?  On  this  head  also  two  principles  were  started. 
One,  that  the  legislative  rights  of  this  country,  with  regard 
to  America,  were  not  entire,  but  had  certain  restrictions  and 
limitations.  The  other  principle  was,  that  taxes  of  this  kind 
were  contrary  to  the  fundamental  principles  of  commerce  on  20 
which  the  colonies  were  founded ;  and  contrary  to  every  idea 
of  political  equity ;  by  which  equity  we  are  bound,  as  much 
as  possible,  to  extend  the  spirit  and  benefit  of  the  British 
constitution  to  every  part  of  the  British  dominions.  The 
option,  both  of  the  measure,  and  of  the  principle  of  repeal,  25 
was  made  before  the  session ;  and  I  wonder  how  any  one  can 
read  the  king's  speech  at  the  opening  of  that  session,  without 
seeing  in  that  speech  both  the  repeal  and  the  declaratory 
act  very  sufficiently  crayoned  out.  Those  who  cannot  see 
this  can  see  nothing.  y 

Surely  the  honourable  gentleman  will  not  think  that  a 


42  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

great  deal  less  time  than  was  then  employed  ought  to  have 
been  spent  in  deliberation,  when  he  considers  that  the  news 
of  the  troubles  did  not  arrive  till  towards  the  end  of  October. 
The  parliament  sat  to  fill  the  vacancies  on  the  i4th  day  of 

5  December,  and  on  business  the  i4th  of  the  following  January. 
Sir,  a  partial  repeal,  or,  as  the  bon  ton  of  the  court  then 
was,  a  modification,  would  have  satisfied  a  timid,  unsystem 
atic,  procrastinating  ministry,  as  such  a  measure  has  since 
done  such  a  ministry.  A  modification  is  the  constant  re- 

10  source  of  weak,  undeciding  minds.  To  repeal  by  the  denial 
of  our  right  to  tax  in  the  preamble,  (and  this  too  did  not 
want  advisers,)  would  have  cut,  in  the  heroic  style,  the 
Gordian  knot  with  a  sword.  Either  measure  would  have 
cost  no  more  than  a  day's  debate.  But  when  the  total  re- 

15  peal  was  adopted ;  and  adopted  on  principles  of  policy,  of 
equity,  and  of  commerce ;  this  plan  made  it  necessary  to 
enter  into  many  and  difficult  measures.  It  became  necessary 
to  open  a  very  large  field  of  evidence  commensurate  to  these 
extensive  views.  But  then  this  labor  did  knight's  service. 

20  It  opened  the  eyes  of  several  to  the  true  state  of  the  Amer 
ican  affairs  ;  it  enlarged  their  ideas ;  it  removed  prejudices ; 
and  it  conciliated  the  opinions  and  affections  of  men.  The 
noble  lord,  who  then  took  the  lead  in  administration,  my 
honourable  friend l  under  me,  and  a  right  honourable  gentle- 

25  man,2  (if  he  will  not  reject  his  share,  and  it  was  a  large  one, 
of  this  business,)  exerted  the  most  laudable  industry  in  bring 
ing  before  you  the  fullest,  most  impartial,  and  least  garbled 
body  of  evidence  that  ever  was  produced  to  this  House.  I 
think  the  inquiry  lasted  in  the  committee  for  six  weeks  ; 

30  and,  at  its  conclusion,  this  House,  by  an  independent,  noble, 
spirited,  and  unexpected  majority ;  by  a  majority  that  will 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  43 

redeem  all  the  acts  ever  done  by  majorities  in  parliament ; 
in  the  teeth  of  all  the  old  mercenary  Swiss  of  state,  in  de 
spite  of  all  the  speculators  and  augurs  of  political  events,  in 
defiance  of  the  whole  embattled  legion  of  veteran  pensioners 
and  practised  instruments  of  a  court,  gave  a  total  repeal  to  5 
the  stamp  act,  and  (if  it  had  been  so  permitted)  a  lasting 
peace  to  this  whole  empire. 

I  state,  Sir,  these  particulars,  because  this  act  of  spirit  and 
fortitude  has  lately  been,  in  the  circulation  of  the  season, 
and  in  some  hazarded  declamations  in  this  House,  attributed  10 
to  timidity.  If,  Sir,  the  conduct  of  ministry,  in  proposing 
the  repeal,  had  arisen  from  timidity  with  regard  to  them 
selves,  it  would  have  been  greatly  to  be  condemned.  Inter 
ested  timidity  disgraces  as  much  in  the  cabinet,  as  personal 
timidity  does  in  the  field.  But  timidity,  with  regard  to  the  15 
well-being  of  our  country,  is  heroic  virtue.  The  noble  lord 
who  then  conducted  affairs,  and  his  worthy  colleagues,  whilst 
they  trembled  at  the  prospect  of  such  distresses  as  you  have 
since  brought  upon  yourselves,  were  not  afraid  steadily  to 
look  in  the  face  that  glaring  and  dazzling  influence  at  which  20 
the  eyes  of  eagles  have  blenched.  He  looked  in  the  face 
one  of  the  ablest,  and,  let  me  say,  not  the  most  scrupulous, 
oppositions,  that  perhaps  ever  was  in  this  House ;  and  with 
stood  it,  unaided  by  even  one  of  the  usual  supports  of  ad 
ministration.  He  did  this  when  he  repealed  the  stamp  act.  25 
He  looked  in  the  face  of  a  person  he  had  long  respected  and 
regarded,  and  whose  aid  was  then  particularly  wanting ;  I 
mean  Lord  Chatham.  He  did  this  when  he  passed  the 
declaratory  act. 

It  is  now  given  out  for  the  usual  purposes  by  the  usual  30 
emissaries,  that  Lord  Rockingham  did  not  consent  to  the 


44  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

repeal  of  this  act  until  he  was  bullied  into  it  by  Lord  Chat 
ham  ;  and  the  reporters  have  gone  so  far  as  publicly  to  assert, 
in  a  hundred  companies,  that  the  honourable  gentleman 
under  the  gallery 1  who  proposed  the  repeal  in  the  American 

5  committee,  had  another  set  of  resolutions  in  his  pocket 
directly  the  reverse  of  those  he  moved.  These  artificers  of 
a  desperate  cause  are  at  this  time  spread  abroad,  with  incred 
ible  care,  in  every  part  of  the  town,  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest  companies ;  as  if  the  industry  of  the  circulation  were 

10  to  make  amends  for  the  absurdity  of  the  report. 

Sir,  whether  the  noble  lord  is  of  a  complexion  to  be  bullied 
by  Lord  Chatham,  or  by  any  man,  I  must  submit  to  those 
who  know  him.  I  confess,  when  I  look  back  to  that  time,  I 
consider  him  as  placed  in  one  of  the  most  trying  situations  in 

15  which,  perhaps,  any  man  ever  stood.  In  the  House  of  Peers 
there  were  very  few  of  the  ministry,  out  of  the  noble  lord's 
own  particular  connexion,  (except  Lord  Egmont,  who  acted, 
as  far  as  I  could  discern,  an  honourable  and  manly  part,) 
that  did  not  look  to  some  other  future  arrangement,  which 

20  warped  his  politics.  There  were  in  both  Houses  new  and 
menacing  appearances,  that  might  very  naturally  drive  any 
other,  than  a  most  resolute  minister,  from  his  measure  or 
from  his  station.  The  household  troops  openly  revolted. 
The  allies  of  ministry  (those,  I  mean,  who  supported  some 

25  of  their  measures,  but  refused  responsibility  for  any)  endeav 
oured  to  undermine  their  credit,  and  to  take  ground  that 
must  be  fatal  to  the  success  of  the  very  cause  which  they 
would  be  thought  to  countenance.  The  question  of  the  re 
peal  was  brought  on  by  ministry  in  the  committee  of  this 

30  House,  in  the  very  instant  when  it  was  known  that  more 
than  one  court  negotiation  was  carrying  on  with  the  heads  of 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION.  45 

the  opposition.  Everything,  upon  every  side,  was  full  of  traps 
and  mines.  Earth  below  shook ;  heaven  above  menaced ; 
all  the  elements  of  ministerial  safety  were  dissolved.  It  was 
in  the  midst  of  this  chaos  of  plots  and  counter-plots ;  it  was 
in  the  midst  of  this  complicated  warfare  against  public  op-  5 
position  and  private  treachery,  that  the  firmness  of  that 
noble  person  was  put  to  the  proof.  He  never  stirred  from 
his  ground  ;  no,  not  an  inch.  He  remained  fixed  and  deter 
mined,  in  principle,  in  measure,  and  in  conduct.  He  prac 
tised  no  managements.  He  secured  no  retreat.  He  sought  10 
no  apology.1 

I  will  likewise  do  justice,  I  ought  to  do  it,  to  the  honour 
able  gentleman  who  led  us  in  this  House.  Far  from  the 
duplicity  wickedly  charged  on  him,  he  acted  his  part  with 
alacrity  and  resolution.  We  all  felt  inspired  by  the  example  15 
he  gave  us,  down  even  to  myself,  the  weakest  in  that  pha 
lanx.  I  declare  for  one,  I  knew  well  enough  (it  could  not 
be  concealed  from  anybody)  the  true  state  of  things ;  but, 
in  my  life,  I  never  came  with  so  much  spirits  into  this 
House.  It  was  a  time  for  a  man  to  act  in.  We  had  power-  20 
ful  enemies ;  but  we  had  faithful  and  determined  friends ; 
and  a  glorious  cause.  We  had  a  great  battle  to  fight ;  but 
we  had  the  means  of  fighting ;  not  as  now,  when  our  arms 
are  tied  behind  us.  We  did  fight  that  day,  and  conquer. 

I  remember,  Sir,  with  a  melancholy  pleasure,  the  situation  25 
of  the  honourable  gentleman  who  made  the  motion  for  the 
repeal ;    in  that  crisis,  when  the  whole  trading  interest  of 
this  empire,  crammed  into  your  lobbies,  with  a  trembling 
and  anxious  expectation,  waited,  almost  to  a  winter's  return 
of  light,  their  fate  from  your  resolutions.     When,  at  length,  30 
you  had  determined  in  their  favour,  and  your  doors,  thrown 


46  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

open,  showed  them  the  figure  of  their  deliverer  in  the  well- 
earned  triumph  of  his  important  victory,  from  the  whole  of 
that  grave  multitude  there  arose  an  involuntary  burst  of 
gratitude  and  transport.  They  jumped  upon  him  like  chil- 

5  dren  on  a  long  absent  father.  They  clung  about  him  as 
captives  about  their  redeemer.  All  England,  all  America, 
joined  to  his  applause.  Nor  did  he  seem  insensible  to  the 
best  of  all  earthly  rewards,  the  love  and  admiration  of  his 
fellow-citizens.  Hope  elevated  and  joy  brightened  his  crest. 

10  I  stood  near  him ;  and  his  face,  to  use  the  expression  of  the 
Scripture  of  the  first  martyr,  "  his  face  was  as  if  it  had  been 
the  face  of  an  angel."  I  do  not  know  how  others  feel ;  but 
if  I  had  stood  in  that  situation,  I  never  would  have  ex 
changed  it  for  all  that  kings  in  their  profusion  could  bestow. 

15  I  did  hope  that  that  day's  danger  and  honour  would  have 
been  a  bond  to  hold  us  all  together  for  ever.  But,  alas  ! 
that,  with  other  pleasing  visions,  is  long  since  vanished.1 

Sir,  this  act   of  supreme   magnanimity  has  been  repre 
sented,  as  if  it  had  been  a  measure  of  an  administration,  that 

20  having  no  scheme  of  their  own,  took  a  middle  line,  pilfered 
a  bit  from  one  side  and  a  bit  from  the  other.  Sir,  they 
took  no  middle  lines.  They  differed  fundamentally  from  the 
schemes  of -both  parties;  but  they  preserved  the  objects  of 
both.  They  preserved  the  authority  of  Great  Britain.  They 

25  preserved  the  equity  of  Great  Britain.  They  made  the 
declaratory  act;  they  repealed  the  stamp  act.  They  did 
both /#//>'  /  because  the  declaratory  act  was  without  qualifi 
cation  ;  and  the  repeal  of  the  stamp  act  total.  This  they 
did  in  the  situation  I  have  described. 

30  Now,  Sir,  what  will  the  adversary  say  to  both  these  acts  ? 
If  the  principle  of  the  declaratory  act  was  not  good,  the 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION.  47 

principle  we  are  contending  for  this  day  is  monstrous.  If 
the  principle  of  the  repeal  was  not  good,  why  are  we  not  at 
war  for  a  real,  substantial,  effective  revenue  ?  If  both  were 
bad,  why  has  this  ministry  incurred  all  the  inconveniencies 
of  both  and  of  all  schemes?  Why  have  they  enacted,  re-  5 
pealed,  enforced,  yielded,  and  now  attempt  to  enforce 
again  ? 

Sir,  I  think  I  may  as  well  now,  as  at  any  other  time,  speak 
to  a  certain  matter  of  fact,  not  wholly  unrelated  to  the  ques 
tion  under  your  consideration.  We,  who  would  persuade  10 
you  to  revert  to  the  ancient  policy  of  this  kingdom,  labour 
under  the  effect  of  this  short  current  phrase,  which  the  court 
leaders  have  given  out  to  all  their  corps,  in  order  to  take 
away  the  credit  of  those  who  would  prevent  you  from  that 
frantic  war  you  are  going  to  wage  upon  your  colonies.  15 
Their  cant  is  this ;  "  All  the  disturbances  in  America  have 
been  created  by  the  repeal  of  the  stamp  act."  I  suppress 
for  a  moment  my  indignation  at  the  falsehood,  baseness,  and 
absurdity  of  this  most  audacious  assertion.  Instead  of  re 
marking  on  the  motives  and  character  of  those  who  have  20 
issued  it  for  circulation,  I  will  clearly  lay  before  you  the  state 
of  America,  antecedently  to  that  repeal ;  after  the  repeal ; 
and  since  the  renewal  of  the  schemes  of  American  taxation. 

It  is  said,  that  the  disturbances,  if  there  were  any,  before 
the  repeal,  were  slight ;  and  without  difficulty  or  inconven-  25 
ience  might  have  been  suppressed.     For  an  answer  to  this 
assertion  I  will  send  you  to  the  great  author  and  patron  of 
the  stamp  act,  who  certainly  meaning  well  to  the  authority 
of  this  country,  and  fully  apprized  of  the  state  of  that,  made, 
before  a  repeal  was  so  much  as  agitated  in  this  House,  the  30 
motion  which  is  on  your  journals ;  and  which,  to  save  the 


48  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION. 

clerk  the  trouble  of  turning  to  it,  I  will  now  read  to  you. 
It  was  for  an  amendment  to  the  address  of  the  lyth  of 
December,  1765  : 

"  To  express  our  just  resentment  and  indignation  at  the 

5  outrages,  tumults,  and  insurrections  which  have  been  excited 
and  carried  on  in  North  America;  and  at  the  resistance 
given,  by  open  and  rebellious  force,  to  the  execution  of  the 
laws  in  that  part  of  his  Majesty's  dominions.  And  to  assure 
his  Majesty,  that  his  faithful  commons,  animated  with  the 

10  warmest  duty  and  attachment  to  his  royal  person  and  gov 
ernment,  will  firmly  and  effectually  support  his  Majesty  in  all 
such  measures  as  shall  be  necessary  for  preserving  and  sup 
porting  the  legal  dependence  of  the  colonies  on  the  mother 
country,"  &c.  &c. 

15  Here  was  certainly  a  disturbance  preceding  the  repeal; 
such  a  disturbance  as  Mr.  Grenville  thought  necessary  to 
qualify  by  the  name  of  an  insurrection,  and  the  epithet  of 
a  rebellious  force :  terms  much  stronger  than  any  by  which 
those,  who  then  supported  his  motion,  have  ever  since  thought 

20  proper  to  distinguish  the  subsequent  disturbances  in  Amer 
ica.  They  were  disturbances  which  seemed  to  him  and  his 
friends  to  justify  as  strong  a  promise  of  support,  as  hath  been 
usual  to  give  in  the  beginning  of  a  war  with  the  most  power 
ful  and  declared  enemies.  When  the  accour)ts  of  the  Amer- 

25  ican  governors  came  before  £he  House,  they  appeared 
stronger  even  than  the  warmth  of  public  imagination  had 
painted  them ;  so  much  stronger,  that  the  papers  on  your 
table  bear  me  out  in  saying,  that  all  the  late  disturbances, 
which  have  been  at  pne  tirne  the  minister's  motives  for  the 

30  repeal  of  five  put  of  six  of  the  new  court  taxes,  and  are 
now  his  pretences  for  refusing  to  repeal  that  sixth,  did  not 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  49 

amount  —  why  do  I  compare  them?  —  no,  not  to  a  tenth 
part  of  the  tumults  and  violence  which  prevailed  long  before 
the  repeal  of  that  act. 

Ministry  cannot  refuse  the  authority  of  the  commander  in 
chief,  General  Gage,  who,  in  his  letter  of  the  4th  of  Novem-     5 
ber,  from  New  York,  thus  represents  the  state  of  things  : 

"  It  is  difficult  to  say,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  who 
has  not  been  accessory  to  this  insurrection,  either  by  writing 
or  mutual  agreements,  to  oppose  the  act,  by  what  they  are 
pleased  to  term  all  legal  apposition  to  it.  Nothing  effectual  10 
has  been  proposed,  either  to  prevent  or  quell  the  tumult. 
The  rest  of  the  provinces  are  in  the  same  situation  as  to  a 
positive  refusal  to  take  the  stamps ;  and  threatening  those 
who  shall  take  them,  to  plunder  and  murder  them  ;  and  this 
affair  stands  in  all  the  provinces,  that  unless  the  act,  from  15 
its  own  nature,  enforce  itself,  nothing  but  a  very  considerable 
military  force  can  do  it." 

It   is   remarkable,   Sir,   that    the    persons   who   formerly 
trumpeted  forth  the  most  loudly,  the  violent  resolutions  of 
assemblies ;    the   universal   insurrections ;    the   seizing   and  20 
burning  the  stamped  papers ;  the  forcing  stamp  officers  to 
resign  their  commissions  under  the  gallows ;  the  rifling  and 
pulling  down  of  the  houses  of  magistrates ;  and  the  expul 
sion  from  their  country  of  all  who  dared  to  write  or  speak 
a  single  word   in   defence  of  the    powers  of  parliament ;  25 
these  very  trumpeters  are  now  the  men  that  represent  the 
whole  as  a  mere  trifle ;  and  choose  to  date  all  the  disturb 
ances  from  the  repeal  of  the  stamp  act,  which  put  an  end  to 
them.     Hear  your  officers  abroad,  and  let  them  refute  this 
shameful  falsehood,  who,  in  all  their  correspondence,  state  30 
the  disturbances  as  owing  to  their  true  causes,  the  discontent 


50  SPEECH   ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

of  the  people,  from  the  taxes.  You  have  this  evidence  in 
your  own  archives  —  and  it  will  give  you  complete  satisfac 
tion  ;  if  you  are  not  so  far  lost  to  all  parliamentary  ideas  of 
information,  as  rather  to  credit  the  lie  of  the  day,  than  the 

5    records  of  your  own  House. 

Sir,  this  vermin  of  court  reporters,  when  they  are  forced 
into  day  upon  one  point,  are  sure  to  burrow  in  another ;  but 
they  shall  have  no  refuge ;  I  will  make  them  bolt  out  of  all 
their  holes.  Conscious  that  they  must  be  baffled,  when  they 

10  attribute  a  precedent  disturbance  to  a  subsequent  measure, 
they  take  other  ground,  almost  as  absurd,  but  very  common 
in  modern  practice,  and  very  wicked ;  which  is,  to  attribute 
the  ill-effect  of  ill-judged  conduct  to  the  arguments  which 
had  been  used  to  dissuade  us  from  it.  They  say,  that  the 

15  opposition  made  in  parliament  to  the  stamp  act  at  the  time 
of  its  passing,  encouraged  the  Americans  to  their  resistance. 
This  has  even  formally  appeared  in  print  in  a  regular  volume, 
from  an  advocate  of  that  faction,  a  Dr.  Tucker.  This  Dr. 
Tucker  is  already  a  dean,  and  his  earnest  labors  in  this 

20  vineyard  will,  I  suppose,  raise  him  to  a  bishopric.1  But  this 
assertion  too,  just  like  the  rest,  is  false.  In  all  the  papers 
which  have  loaded  your  table  ;  in  all  the  vast  crowd  of  verbal 
witnesses  that  appeared  at  your  bar,  witnesses  which  were 
indiscriminately  produced  from  both  sides  of  the  House  ;  not 

25  the  least  hint  of  such  a  cause  of  disturbance  has  ever  ap 
peared.  As  to  the  fact  of  a  strenuous  opposition  to  the  stamp 
act,  I  sat  as  a  stranger  in  your  gallery  when  the  act  was 
under  consideration.  Far  from  anything  inflammatory,  I 
never  heard  a  more  languid  debate  in  this  House.  No  more 

30  than  two  or  three  gentlemen,  as  I  remember,  spoke  against 
the  act,  and  that  with  great  reserve,  and  remarkable  temper. 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION.  51 

There  was  but  one  division  in  the  whole  progress  of  the  bill ; 
and  the  minority  did  not  reach  to  more  than  39  or  40.  In 
the  House  of  Lords  I  do  not  recollect  that  there  was  any 
debate  or  division  at  all.  I  am  sure  there  was  no  protest. 
In  fact,  the  affair  passed  with  so  very,  very  little  noise,  that  5 
in  town  they  scarcely  knew  the  nature  of  what  you  were 
doing.  The  opposition  to  the  bill  in  England  never  could 
have  done  this  mischief,  because  there  scarcely  ever  was  less 
of  opposition  to  a  bill  of  consequence. 

Sir,  the  agents  and  distributors  of  falsehoods  have,  with  10 
their   usual   industry,  circulated   another   lie    of  the   same 
nature  with   the  former.     It  is  this,  that  the  disturbances 
arose  from  the  account  which  had  been  received  in  America 
of  the  change  in  the  ministry.     No  longer  awed,  it  seems, 
with  the  spirit  of  the  former  rulers,  they  thought  themselves  J5 
a  match  for  what  our  calumniators  chose  to  qualify  by  the 
name  of  so  feeble  a  ministry  as  succeeded.     Feeble  in  one 
sense  these  men  certainly  may  be  called ;  for,  with  all  their 
efforts,  and  they  have  made  many,  they  have  not  been  able 
to  resist  the  distempered  vigour,  and  insane  alacrity,  with  20 
which  you  are  rushing  to  your  ruin.     But  it  does  so  happen, 
that  the  falsity  of  this  circulation  is  (like  the  rest)  demon 
strated  by  indisputable  dates  and  records. 

So   little  was  the  change    known   in  America,  that   the 
letters  of  your  governors,  giving  an  account  of  these  dis-  25 
turbances  long  after  they  had  arrived  at  their  highest  pitch, 
were  all  directed  to  the  old  ministry,  and  particularly  to  the 
Earl  of  Halifax,  the  secretary  of  state  corresponding  with 
the  colonies,  without  once  in  the  smallest  degree  intimating 
the  slightest  suspicion  of  any  ministerial  revolution  what-  30 
soever.     The  ministry  was  not  changed  in  England  until 


52  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

the  loth  day  of  July,  1765.  On  the  i4th  of  the  preceding 
June,  Governor  Fauquier  from  Virginia  writes  thus;  and 
writes  thus  to  the  Earl  of  Halifax  :  "  Government  is  set  at 
defiance,  not  having  strength  enough  in  her  hands  to  enforce 

5  obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  community.  The  private  distress 
which  every  man  feels,  increases  the  general  dissatisfaction 
at  the  duties  laid  by  the  stamp  act,  which  breaks  out  and 
shows  itself  upon  every  trifling  occasion.1'  The  general 
dissatisfaction  had  produced  some  time  before,  that  is,  on 

10  the  2pth  of  May,  several  strong  public  resolves  against  the 
stamp  act;  and  those  resolves  are  assigned  by  Governor 
Bernard  as  the  cause  of  the  insurrections  in  Massachusetts 
Bay,  in  his  letter  of  the  i5th  of  August,  still  addressed  to 
the  Earl  of  Halifax ;  and  he  continued  to  address  such 

15  accounts  to  that  minister  quite  to  the  yth  of  September  of 
the  same  year.  Similar  accounts,  and  of  as  late  a  date, 
were  sent  from  other  governors,  and  all  directed  to  Lord 
Halifax.  Not  one  of  these  letters  indicates  the  slightest 
idea  of  a  change,  either  known,  or  even  apprehended. 

20  Thus  are  blown  away  the  insect  race  of  courtly  falsehoods  ! 
thus  perish  the  miserable  inventions  of  the  wretched  run 
ners  for  a  wretched  cause,  which  they  have  fly-blown  into 
every  weak  and  rotten  part  of  the  country,  in  vain  hopes 
that  when  their  maggots  had  taken  wing,  their  importunate 

25  buzzing  might  sound  something  like  the  public  voice  \ 

Sir,  I  have  troubled  you  sufficiently  with  the  state  of 
America  before  the  repeal.  Now  I  turn  to  the  honourable 
gentleman  who  so  stoutly  challenges  us  to  tell,  whether, 
after  the  repeal,  the  provinces  were  quiet  ?  This  is  coming 

30  home  to  the  point.  Here  I  meet  him  directly ;  and  answer 
most  readily,  They  were  quiet.  And  I,  in  my  turn,  challenge 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  53 

him  to  prove  when,  and  where,  and  by  whom,  and  in  what 
numbers,  and  with  what  violence,  the  other  laws  of  trade,  as 
gentlemen  assert,  were  violated  in  consequence  of  your  con 
cession  ?  or  that  even  your  other  revenue  laws  were  attacked  ? 
But  I  quit  the  vantage-ground  on  which  I  stand,  and  where  5 
I  might  leave  the  burthen  of  the  proof  upon  him  :  I  walk 
down  upon  the  open  plain,  and  undertake  to  show,  that 
they  were  not  only  quiet,  but  showed  many  unequivocal 
marks  of  acknowledgment  and  gratitude.  And  to  give  him 
every  advantage,  I  select  the  obnoxious  colony  of  Massa-  10 
chusetts  Bay,  which  at  this  time  (but  without  hearing  her) 
is  so  heavily  a  culprit  before  parliament  —  I  will  select  their 
proceedings  even  under  circumstances  of  no  small  irritation. 
For,  a  little  imprudently,  I  must  say,  Governor  Bernard 
mixed  in  the  administration  of  the  lenitive  of  the  repeal  no  15 
small  acrimony  arising  from  matters  of  a  separate  nature. 
Yet  see,  Sir,  the  effect  of  that  lenitive,  though  mixed  with 
these  bitter  ingredients ;  and  how  this  rugged  people  can 
express  themselves  on  a  measure  of  concession. 

"If  it  is  not  in  our  power"  (say  they  in  their  address  to  20 
Governor  Bernard,)  "in  so  full  a  manner  as  will  be  expected, 
to  show  our  respectful  gratitude  to  the  mother  country,  or  to 
make  a  dutiful  and  affectionate  return  to  the  indulgence  of 
the  king  and  parliament,  it  shall  be  no  fault  of  ours ;  for 
this  we  intend,  and  hope  we  shall  be  able  fully  to  effect"  25 

Would  to  God  that  this  temper  had  been  cultivated,  man 
aged,  and  set  in  action  !  other  effects  than  those  which  we 
have  since  felt  would  have  resulted  from  it.  On  the  requisi 
tion  for  compensation  to  those  who  had  suffered  from  the 
violence  of  the  populace,  in  the  same  address  they  say,  "  The  30 
recommendation  enjoined  by  Mr.  Secretary  Conway's  letter, 


54  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION. 

and  in  consequence  thereof  made  to  us,  we  will  embrace  the 
first  convenient  opportunity  to  consider  and  act  upon"  They 
did  consider ;  they  did  act  upon  it.  They  obeyed  the  requi 
sition.  I  know  the  mode  has  been  chicaned  upon;  but  it 

5  was  substantially  obeyed ;  and  much  better  obeyed  than  I 
fear  the  parliamentary  requisition  of  this  session  will  be, 
though  enforced  by  all  your  rigour,  and  backed  with  all  your 
power.  In  a  word,  the  damages  of  popular  fury  were  com 
pensated  by  legislative  gravity.  Almost  every  other  part  of 

10  America  in  various  ways  demonstrated  their  gratitude.  I 
am  bold  to  say,  that  so  sudden  a  calm  recovered  after  so 
violent  a  storm  is  without  parallel  in  history.  To  say  that 
no  other  disturbance  should  happen  from  any  other  cause,  is 
folly.  But  as  far  as  appearances  went,  by  the  judicious  sacri- 

15  fice  of  one  law,  you  procured  an  acquiescence  in  all  that 
remained.  After  this  experience,  nobody  shall  persuade  me, 
when  a  whole  people  are  concerned,  that  acts  of  lenity  are 
not  means  of  conciliation. 

I  hope  the  honourable  gentleman  has  received  a  fair  and 

20  full  answer  to  his  question. 

I  have  done  with  the  third  period  of  your  policy ;  that  of 
your  repeal ;  and  the  return  of  your  ancient  system,  and 
your  ancient  tranquillity  and  concord.  Sir,  this  period  was 
not  as  long  as  it  was  happy.  Another  scene  was  opened, 

25  and  other  actors  appeared  on  the  stage.  The  state,  in  the 
condition  I  have  described  it,  was  delivered  into  the  hands 
of  Lord  Chatham  —  a  great  and  celebrated  name ;  a  name 
that  keeps  the  name  of  this  country  respectable  in  every 
other  on  the  globe.  It  may  be  truly  called, 

3°  Clarutn  et  venerabile  nomen  * 

Gentibus,  et  multum  nostra  quod  proderat  urbi. 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION.  55 

Sir,  the  venerable  age  of  this  great  man,  his  merited  rank, 
his  superior  eloquence,  his  splendid  qualities,  his  eminent 
services,  the  vast  space  he  fills  in  the  eye  of  mankind ;  and, 
more  than  all  the  rest,  his  fall  from  power,  which,  like  death, 
canonizes  and  sanctifies  a  great  character,  will  not  suffer  me  5 
to  censure  any  part  of  his  conduct.  I  am  afraid  to  flatter 
him  ;  I  am  sure  I  am  not  disposed  to  blame  him.  Let  those, 
who  have  betrayed  him  by  their  adulation,  insult  him  with 
their  malevolence.  But  what  I  do  not  presume  to  censure, 
I  may  have  leave  to  lament.  For  a  wise  man,  he  seemed  to  10 
me  at  that  time  to  be  governed  too  much  by  general  maxims. 
I  speak  with  the  freedom  of  history,  and  I  hope  without 
offence.  One  or  two  of  these  maxims,  flowing  from  an 
opinion  not  the  most  indulgent  to  our  unhappy  species,  and 
surely  a  little  too  general,  led  him  into  measures  that  were  15 
greatly  mischievous  to  himself;  and  for  that  reason,  among 
others,  fatal  to  his  country ;  measures,  the  effects  of  which,  I 
am  afraid,  are  for  ever  incurable.  He  made  an  administra 
tion,  so  checkered  and  speckled  ;  he  put  together  a  piece  of 
joinery,  so  crossly  indented  and  whimsically  dove-tailed ;  a  20 
cabinet  so  variously  inlaid ;  such  a  piece  of  diversified  Mo 
saic  ;  such  a  tesselated  pavement  without  cement ;  here  a 
bit  of  black  stone,  and  there  a  bit  of  white ;  patriots  and 
courtiers,  king's  friends  and  republicans  ;  whigs  and  tories  ; 
treacherous  friends  and  open  enemies  ;  that  it  was  indeed  a  25 
very  curious  show ;  but  utterly  unsafe  to  touch,  and  unsure 
to  stand  on.  The  colleagues  whom  he  had  assorted  at  the 
same  boards,  stared  at  each  other,  and  were  obliged  to  ask, 
"Sir,  your  name?  —  Sir,  you  have  the  advantage  of  me  — 
Mr.  Such-a-one  —  I  beg  a  thousand  pardons  —  "  I  venture  30 
to  say,  it  did  so  happen,  that  persons  had  a  single  office 


56  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION. 

divided  between  them,  who  had  never  spoke  to  each  other 
in  their  lives,  until  they  found  themselves,  they  knew  not 
how,  pigging  together,  heads  and  points,  in  the  same  truckle- 
bed.1 

5  Sir,  in  consequence  of  this  arrangement,  having  put  so 
much  the  larger  part  of  his  enemies  and  opposers  into  power, 
the  confusion  was  such,  that  his  own  principles  could  not 
possibly  have  any  effect  or  influence  in  the  conduct  of  affairs. 
If  ever  he  fell  into  a  fit  of  the  gout,  or  if  any  other  cause 

10  withdrew  him  from  public  cares,  principles  directly  the  con 
trary  were  sure  to  predominate.  When  he  had  executed  his 
plan,  he  had  not  an  inch  of  ground  to  stand  upon.  When 
he  had  accomplished  his  scheme  of  administration,  he  was 
no  longer  a  minister. 

15  When  his  face  was  hid  but  for  a  moment,  his  whole  system 
was  on  a  wide  sea,  without  chart  or  compass.  The  gentle 
men,  his  particular  friends,  who,  with  the  names  of  various 
departments  of  ministry,  were  admitted  to  seem  as  if  they 
acted  a  part  under  him,  with  a  modesty  that  becomes  all 

20  men,  and  with  a  confidence  in  him,  which  was  justified  even 
in  its  extravagance  by  his  superior  abilities,  had  never,  in 
any  instance,  presumed  upon  any  opinion  of  their  own. 
Deprived  of  his  guiding  influence,  they  were  whirled  about, 
the  sport  of  every  gust,  and  easily  driven  into  any  port ;  and 

25  as  those  who  joined  with  them  in  manning  the  vessel  were 
the  most  directly  opposite  to  his  opinions,  measures,  and 
character,  and  far  the  most  artful  and  most  powerful  of  the 
set,  they  easily  prevailed,  so  as  to  seize  upon  the  vacant, 
unoccupied,  and  derelict  minds  of  his  friends  ;  and  instantly 

30  they  turned  the  vessel  wholly  out  of  the  course  of  his  policy. 
As  if  it  were  to  insult  as  well  as  to  betray  him,  even  long 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  57 

before  the  close  of  the  first  session  of  his  administration, 
when  everything  was  publicly  transacted,  and  with  great 
parade,  in  his  name,  they  made  an  act,  declaring  it  highly 
just  and  expedient  to  raise  a  revenue  in  America.  For  even 
then,  Sir,  even  before  this  splendid  orb  was  entirely  set,  and  5 
while  the  western  horizon  was  in  a  blaze  with  his  descending 
glory,  on  the  opposite  quarter  of  the  heavens  arose  another 
luminary,  and,  for  his  hour,  became  lord  of  the  ascendant. 

This  light  too  is  passed  and  set  for  ever.     You  understand, 
to  be  sure,  that  I  speak  of  Charles  Townshend,  officially  the  10 
re-producer  of  this  fatal  scheme  ;  whom  I  cannot  even  now 
remember  without  some  degree  of  sensibility.     In  truth,  Sir, 
he  was  the   delight  and  ornament  of  this  House,  and  the 
charm  of  every  private  society  which  he   honoured  with 
his  presence.     Perhaps  there  never  arose  in  this  country,   15 
nor  in  any  country,  a  man  of  a  more  pointed  and  finished 
wit ;  and  (where  his  passions  were  not  concerned)  of  a  more 
refined,  exquisite,  and  penetrating  judgment.    If  he  had  not 
so  great  a  stock,  as  some  have  had  who  flourished  formerly, 
of  knowledge  long  treasured  up,  he  knew  better,  by  far,  than  20 
any  man  I  ever  was  acquainted  with,  how  to  bring  together, 
within  a  short  time,  all  that  was  necessary  to  establish,  to 
illustrate,  and  to  decorate  that  side  of  the  question  he  sup 
ported.     He  stated  his  matter  skilfully  and  powerfully.     He 
particularly  excelled  in  a  most  luminous  explanation  and  25 
display  of  his  subject.     His  style  of  argument  was  neither 
trite  and  vulgar,  nor  subtle  and  abstruse.     He  hit  the  House 
just  between  wind  and  water.  —  And  not  being  troubled  with 
too  anxious  a  zeal  for  any  matter  in  question,  he  was  never 
more  tedious,  or  more  earnest,  than  the  pre-conceived  opin-  30 
ions  and  present  temper  of  his  hearers  required ;  to  whom 


58  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION. 

he  was  always  in  perfect  unison.  He  conformed  exactly  to 
the  temper  of  the  House  ;  and  he  seemed  to  guide,  because 
he  was  also  sure  to  follow  it. 

I  beg  pardon,  Sir,  if,  when  I  speak  of  this  and   of  other 

5  great  men,  I  appear  to  digress  in  saying  something  of  their 
characters.  In  this  eventful  history  of  the  revolutions  of 
America,  the  characters  of  such  men  are  of  much  importance. 
Great  men  are  the  guide-posts  and  land-marks  in  the  state. 
The  credit  of  such  men  at  court,  or  in  the  nation,  is  the  sole 

10  cause  of  all  the  public  measures.  It  would  be  an  invidious 
thing  (most  foreign,  I  trust,  to  what  you  think  my  disposition) 
to  remark  the  errors  into  which  the  authority  of  great  names 
has  brought  the  nation,  without  doing  justice,  at  the  same 
time,  to  the  great  qualities  whence  that  authority  arose.  The 

15  subject  is  instructive  to  those  who  wish  to  form  themselves 
on  whatever  of  excellence  has  gone  before  them.  There  are 
many  young  members  in  the  House  (such  of  late  has  been 
the  rapid  succession  of  public  men)  who  never  saw  that 
prodigy,  Charles  Townshend ;  nor  of  course  know  what  a 

20  ferment  he  was  able  to  excite  in  everything  by  the  violent 
ebullition  of  his  mixed  virtues  and  failings.  For  failings  he 
had  undoubtedly  —  many  of  us  remember  them  ;  we  are  this 
day  considering  the  effect  of  them.  But  he  had  no  failings 
which  were  not  owing  to  a  noble  cause ;  to  an  ardent,  gen- 

25  erous,  perhaps  an  immoderate,  passion  for  fame ;  a  passion 
which  is  the  instinct  of  all  great  souls.  He  worshipped  that 
goddess  wheresoever  she  appeared  ;  but  he  paid  his  particu 
lar  devotions  to  her  in  her  favourite  habitation,  in  her  chosen 
temple,  the  House  of  Commons.  Besides  the  characters  of 

3o  the  individuals  that  compose  our  body,  it  is  impossible,  Mr. 
Speaker,  not  to  observe  that  this  House  has  a  collective  char- 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  59 

acter  of  its  own.  That  character  too,  however  imperfect,  is 
not  unamiable.  Like  all  great  public  collections  of  men,  you 
possess  a  marked  love  of  virtue  and  an  abhorrence  of  vice. 
But  among  vices,  there  is  none  which  the  House  abhors  in 
the  same  degree  with  obstinacy.  Obstinacy,  Sir,  is  certainly  5 
a  great  vice ;  and  in  the  changeful  state  of  political  affairs 
it  is  frequently  the  cause  of  great  mischief.  It  happens, 
however,  very  unfortunately,  that  almost  the  whole  line  of 
the  great  and  masculine  virtues,  constancy,  gravity,  mag 
nanimity,  fortitude,  fidelity,  and  firmness,  are  closely  allied  10 
to  this  disagreeable  quality,  of  which  you  have  so  just  an 
abhorrence ;  and,  in  their  excess,  all  these  virtues  very  easily 
fall  into  it.  He,  who  paid  such  a  punctilious  attention  to  all 
your  feelings,  certainly  took  care  not  to  shock  them  by  that 
vice  which  is  the  most  disgustful  to  you.  15 

That  fear  of  displeasing  those  who  ought  most  to  be 
pleased,  betrayed  him  sometimes  into  the  other  extreme. 
He  had  voted,  and,  in  the  year  1765,  had  been  an  advocate, 
for  the  stamp  act.  Things  and  the  disposition  of  men's 
minds  were  changed.  In  short,  the  stamp  act  began  to  be  20 
no  favourite  in  this  House.  He  therefore  attended  at  the 
private  meeting,  in  which  the  resolutions  moved  by  a  right 
honourable  gentleman  were  settled ;  resolutions  leading  to 
the  repeal.  The  next  day  he  voted  for  that  repeal ;  and  he 
would  have  spoken  for  it  too,  if  an  illness,  (not,  as  was  then  25 
given  out,  a  political,)  but  to  my  knowledge,  a  very  real  ill 
ness,  had  not  prevented  it. 

The  very  next  session,  as  the  fashion  of  this  world  passeth 
away,  the  repeal  began  to  be  in  as  bad  an  odour  in  this 
House  as  the  stamp  act  had  been  in  the  session  before.     To  30 
conform  to  the  temper  which  began  to  prevail,  and  to  pre- 


60  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

vail  mostly  amongst  those  most  in  power,  he  declared,  very 
early  in  the  winter,  that  a  revenue  must  be  had  out  of 
America.  Instantly  he  was  tied  down  to  his  engagements 
by  some,  who  had  no  objection  to  such  experiments,  when 

5     made  at  the  cost  of  persons  for  whom  they  had  no  particular 
regard.     The  whole  body  of  courtiers  drove  him  onward. 
They  always  talked  as  if  the  king  stood  in  a  sort  of  humili 
ated  state,  until  something  of  the  kind  should  be  done. 
Here,  this  extraordinary  man,  then  chancellor  of  the  ex- 

10  chequer,  found  himself  in  great  straits.  To  please  univer 
sally  was  the  object  of  his  life ;  but  to  tax  and  to  please,  no 
more  than  to  love  and  to  be  wise,  is  not  given  to  men.  How 
ever,  he  attempted  it.  To  render  the  tax  palatable  to  the 
partisans  of  American  revenue,  he  had  a  preamble  stating 

15  the  necessity  of  such  a  revenue.  To  close  with  the  American 
distinction,  this  revenue  was  external  or  port  duty;  but 
again,  to  soften  it  to  the  other  party,  it  was  a  duty  of  supply. 
To  gratify  the  colonists,  it  was  laid  on  British  manufactures ; 
to  satisfy  the  merchants  of  Britain,  the  duty  was  trivial,  and 

20  (except  that  on  tea,  which  touched  only  the  devoted  East 
India  Company)  on  none  of  the  grand  objects  of  commerce. 
To  counterwork  the  American  contraband,  the  duty  on  tea 
was  reduced  from  a  shilling  to  three-pence.  But  to  secure 
the  favour  of  those  who  would  tax  America,  the  scene  of  col- 

25  lection  was  changed,  and,  with  the  rest,  it  was  levied  in  the 
colonies.  What  need  I  say  more?  This  fine-spun  scheme 
had  the  usual  sate  of  all  exquisite  policy.  But  the  original 
plan  of  the  duties,  and  the  mode  of  executing  that  plan, 
both  arose  singly  and  solely  from  a  love  of  our  applause. 

30  He  was  truly  the  child  of  the  House.  He  never  thought, 
did,  or  said  anything,  but  with  a  view  to  you.  He  every 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  61 

day  adapted  himself  to  your  disposition ;  and  adjusted  him 
self  before  it  as  at  a  looking-glass.1 

He  had  observed  (indeed  it  could  not  escape  him)  that 
several  persons,  infinitely  his  inferiors  in  all  respects,  had 
formerly  rendered  themselves  considerable  in  this  House  by  5 
one  method  alone.  They  were  a  race  of  men  (I  hope  in 
God  the  species  is  extinct)  who,  when  they  rose  in  their 
place,  no  man  living  could  divine,  from  any  known  adher 
ence  to  parties,  to  opinions,  or  to  principles,  from  any  order 
or  system  in  their  politics,  or  from  any  sequel  or  connexion  10 
in  their  ideas,  what  part  they  were  going  to  take  in  any 
debate.  It  is  astonishing  how  much  this  uncertainty,  espe 
cially  at  critical  times,  called  the  attention  of  all  parties  on 
such  men.  All  eyes  were  fixed  on  them,  all  ears  open  to 
hear  them ;  each  party  gaped,  and  looked  alternately  for  15 
their  vote,  almost  to  the  end  of  their  speeches.  While  the 
House  hung  in  this  uncertainty,  now  the  hear  hims  rose 
from  his  side  —  now  they  rebellowed  from  the  other ;  and 
that  party,  to  whom  they  fell  at  length  from  their  tremulous 
and  dancing  balance,  always  received  them  in  a  tempest  of  20 
applause.  The  fortune  of  such  men  was  a  temptation  too 
great  to  be  resisted  by  one,  to  whom  a  single  whiff  of  incense 
withheld  gave  much  greater  pain,  than  he  received  delight 
in  the  clouds  of  it,  which  daily  rose  about  him  from  the 
prodigal  superstition  of  innumerable  admirers.  He  was  a  25 
candidate  for  contradictory  honours ;  and  his  great  aim  was 
to  make  those  agree  in  admiration  of  him  who  never  agreed 
in  anything  else. 

Hence  arose  this  unfortunate  act,  the  subject  of  this  day's 
debate  ;  from  a  disposition  which,  after  making  an  American  30 
revenue  to  please  one,  repealed  it  to  please  others,  and  again 


62  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION. 

revived  it  in  hopes  of  pleasing  a  third,  and  of  catching  some 
thing  in  the  ideas  of  all. 

This  revenue  act  of  1767  formed  the  fourth  period  of 
American  policy.     How  we  have  fared  since  then  —  what 

5  woeful  variety  of  schemes  have  been  adopted  ;  what  enforc 
ing,  and  what  repealing ;  what  bullying,  and  what  submitting ; 
what  doing,  and  undoing ;  what  straining,  and  what  relaxing ; 
what  assemblies  dissolved  for  not  obeying,  and  called  again 
without  obedience  ;  what  troops  sent  out  to  quell  resistance, 

10  and  on  meeting  that  resistance,  recalled  ;  what  shiftings,  and 
changes,  and  jumblings  of  all  kinds  of  men  at  home,  which 
left  no  possibility  of  order,  consistency,  vigour,  or  even  so 
much  as  a  decent  unity  of  colour  in  any  one  public  measure. 
—  It  is  a  tedious,  irksome  task.  My  duty  may  call  me  to 

15   open  it  out  some  other  time ;  on  a  former  occasion1  I  tried 

your  temper  on  a  part  of  it ;  for  the  present  I  shall  forbear. 

After  all  these  changes  and  agitations,  your  immediate 

situation  upon  the  question  on  your  paper  is  at  length  brought 

to  this.     You  have  an  act  of  parliament,  stating,  that  "  it  is 

20  expedient  to  raise  a  revenue  in  America."  By  a  partial  repeal 
you  annihilated  the  greatest  part  of  that  revenue,  which  this 
preamble  declares  to  be  so  expedient.  You  have  substituted 
no  other  in  the  place  of  it.  A  secretary  of  state  has  dis 
claimed,  in  the  king's  name,  all  thoughts  of  such  a  substitu- 

25  tion  in  future.  The  principle  of  this  disclaimer  goes  to  what 
has  been  left,  as  well  as  what  has  been  repealed.  The  tax 
which  lingers  after  its  companions  (under  a  preamble  declar 
ing  an  American  revenue  expedient,  and  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  supporting  the  theory  of  that  preamble)  militates  with  the 

30  assurance  authentically  conveyed  to  the  colonies ;  and  is  an 
exhaustless  source  of  jealousy  and  animosity.  On  this  state, 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION.  63 

which  I  take  to  be  a  fair  one ;  not  being  able  to  discern  any 
grounds  of  honour,  advantage,  peace,  or  power,  for  adhering, 
either  to  the  act  or  to  the  preamble,  I  shall  vote  for  the 
question  which  leads  to  the  repeal  of  both. 

If  you  do  not  fall  in  with  this  motion,  then  secure  some-    5 
thing  to  fight  for,  consistent  in  theory  and  valuable  in  practice. 
If  you  must  employ  your  strength,  employ  it  to  uphold  you  in 
some  honourable  right,  or  some  profitable  wrong.     If  you  are 
apprehensive  that    the   concession    recommended    to  you, 
though  proper,  should  be  a  means  of  drawing  on  you  further  10 
but  unreasonable  claims,  —  why  then  employ  your  force  in 
supporting  that  reasonable  concession  against  those  unreason 
able  demands.     You  will  employ  it  with  more  grace  ;  with 
better  effect ;   and  with  great  probable  concurrence  of  all 
the  quiet  and  rational  people  in  the  provinces  ;  who  are  now  15 
united  with,  and  hurried  away  by,  the  violent ;  having  indeed 
different  dispositions,  but  a  common  interest.     If  you  appre 
hend  that  on  a  concession  you  shall  be  pushed  by  metaphys 
ical  process  to  the  extreme  lines,  and  argued  out  of  your 
whole  authority,  my  advice  is  this  ;  when  you  have  recovered  20 
your  old,  your  strong,  your  tenable  position,  then  face  about 
—  stop  short  —  do  nothing  more  —  reason  not  at  all — oppose 
the  ancient  policy  and  practice  of  the  empire,  as  a  rampart 
against  the  speculations  of  innovators  on  both  sides  of  the 
question ;    and  you  will    stand  on  great,  manly,  and   sure  25 
ground.     On  this  solid  basis  fix  your  machines,  and   they 
will  draw  worlds  towards  you. 

Your  ministers,  in  their  own  and  his  Majesty's  name,  have 
already  adopted  the  American  distinction  of  internal  and 
external  duties.     It  is  a  distinction,  whatever  merit  it  may  30 
have,  that  was  originally  moved  by  the  Americans  them- 


64  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION. 

selves ;  and  I  think  they  will  acquiesce  in  it,  if  they  are  not 
pushed  with  too  much  logic  and  too  little  sense,  in  all  the 
consequences.  That  is,  if  external  taxation  be  understood, 
as  they  and  you  understand  it,  when  you  please,  to  be  not  a 

5  distinction  of  geography,  but  of  policy ;  that  it  is  a  power 
for  regulating  trade,  and  not  for  supporting  establishments. 
The  distinction,  which  is  as  nothing  with  regard  to  right,  is 
of  most  weighty  consideration  in  practice.  Recover  your 
old  ground,  and  your  old  tranquillity  —  try  it  —  I  am  per- 

10  suaded  the  Americans  will  compromise  with  you.  When 
confidence  is  once  restored,  the  odious  and  suspicious  sum- 
mum  jus  will  perish  of  course.  The  spirit  of  practicability, 
of  moderation,  and  mutual  convenience,  will  never  call  in 
geometrical  exactness  as  the  arbitrator  of  amicable  settle- 

15  ment.  Consult  and  follow  your  experience.  Let  not  the 
long  story,  with  which  I  have  exercised  your  patience,  prove 
fruitless  to  your  interests. 

For  my  part,  I  should  choose  (if  I  could  have  my  wish) 
that  the  proposition  of  the  honourable  gentleman J  for  the 

20  repeal  could  go  to  America  without  the  attendance  of  the 
penal  bills.  Alone  I  could  almost  answer  for  its  success.  I 
cannot  be  certain  of  its  reception  in  the  bad  company  it  may 
keep.  In  such  heterogeneous  assortments,  the  most  inno 
cent  person  will  lose  the  effect  of  his  innocency.  Though 

25  you  should  send  out  this  angel  of  peace,  yet  you  are  sending 
out  a  destroying  angel  too  :  and  what  would  be  the  effect  of 
the  conflict  of  these  two  adverse  spirits,  or  which  would 
predominate  in  the  end,  is  what  I  dare  not  say :  whether 
the  lenient  measures  would  cause  American  passion  to  sub- 

30  side,  or  the  severe  would  increase  its  fury  —  all  this  is  in  the 
hand  of  Providence.  Yet  now,  even  now,  I  should  confide 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION.  65 

in  the  prevailing  virtue  and  efficacious  operation  of  lenity, 
though  working  in  darkness,  and  in  chaos,  in  the  midst  of 
all  this  unnatural  and  turbid  combination  :  I  should  hope  it 
might  produce  order  and  beauty  in  the  end. 

f     Let  us,  Sir,  embrace  some  system  or  other  before  we  end    5 
this  session.     Do  you  mean  to  tax  America,  and  to  draw  a 
productive  revenue  from  thence  ?     If  you  do,  speak  out ; 
name,  fix,  ascertain  this  revenue ;  settle  its  quantity ;  define 
its  objects ;  provide  for  its  collection ;  and  then  fight  when 
you  have  something  to  fight  for.     If  you  murder,  rob ;  if  10 
you  kill,  take  possession  :  and  do  not  appear  in  the  charac 
ter   of  madmen,    as   well   as  assassins,  violent,  vindictive, 
bloody,  and  tyrannical,  without  an  object.     But  may  better 
counsels  guide  you  ! 

#       Again,  and  again,  revert  to  your  own  principles  —  seek  15 
peace  and  ensue  it  —  leave  America,  if  she  has  taxable  mat 
ter  in  her,  to  tax  herself.     I  am  not  here  going  into  the  dis 
tinctions  of  rights,  not  attempting  to  mark  their  boundaries. 
I  do  not  enter  into  these  metaphysical  distinctions ;  I  hate 
the  very  sound  of  them.     Leave   the  Americans   as  they  20 
anciently  stood,  and  these  distinctions,  born  of  our  unhappy 
contest,  will  die  along  with  it.     They  and  we,  and  their  and 
our  ancestors,  have  been  happy  under  that  system.     Let  the 
memory  of  all  actions,  in  contradiction  to  that  good  old 
mode,  on  both  sides,  be  extinguished  for  ever.     Be  content  25 
to  bind  America  by  laws  of  trade  ;  you  have  always  done  it. 
Let  this  be  your  reason  for  binding  their  trade.     Do  not 
burthen  them  by  taxes ;  you  were  not  used  to  do  so  from 
the    beginning.     Let   this   be  your   reason  for  not  taxing. 
These  are  the  arguments  of  states  and  kingdoms.     Leave  30 
the  rest  to  the  schools;   for  there  only  they  may  be  dis- 


66  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

cussed  with  safety.  But  if,  intemperately,  unwisely,  fatally, 
you  sophisticate  and  poison  the  very  source  of  government, 
by  urging  subtle  deductions,  and  consequences  odious  to 
those  you  govern,  from  the  unlimited  and  illimitable  nature 

5  of  supreme  sovereignty,  you  will  teach  them  by  these  means 
to  call  that  sovereignty  itself  in  question.  When  you  drive 
him  hard,  the  boar  will  surely  turn  upon  the  hunters.  If 
that  sovereignty  and  their  freedom  cannot  be  reconciled, 
which  will  they  take  ?  They  will  cast  your  sovereignty  in 

10  your  face.  Nobody  will  be  argued  into  slavery.  Sir,  let  the 
gentlemen  on  the  other  side  call  forth  all  their  ability ;  let 
the  best  of  them  get  up,  and  tell  me,  what  one  character  of 
liberty  the  Americans  have,  and  what  one  brand  of  slavery 
they  are  free  from,  if  they  are  bound  in  their  property  and 

15  industry,  by  all  the  restraints  you  can  imagine  on  commerce, 
and  at  the  same  time  are  made  pack-horses  of  every  tax  you 
choose  to  impose,  without  the  least  share  in  granting  them. 
When  they  bear  the  burthens  of  unlimited  monopoly,  will 
you  bring  them  to  bear  the  burthens  of  unlimited  revenue 

20  too?  The  Englishman  in  America  will  feel  that  this  is 
slavery — that  it  is  legal  slavery,  will  be  no  compensation, 
either  to  his  feelings  or  his  understanding. 

A  noble  lord,1  who  spoke  some  time  ago,  is  full  of  the  fire 
of  ingenious  youth ;  and  when  he  has  modelled  the  ideas  of 

25  a  lively  imagination  by  further  experience,  he  will  be  an 
ornament  to  his  country  in  either  House.  He  has  said,  that 
the  Americans  are  our  children,  and  how  can  they  revolt 
against  their  parent?  He  says,  that  if  they  are  not  free  in 
their  present  state,  England  is  not  free  ;  because  Manchester, 

30  and  other  considerable  places,  are  not  represented.  So  then, 
because  some  towns  in  England  are  not  represented,  America 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION.  67 

is  to  have  no  representative  at  all.  They  are  "  our  children  ; " 
but  when  children  ask  for  bread  we  are  not  to  give  a  stone. 
Is  it  because  the  natural  resistance  of  things,  and  the  various 
mutations  of  time,  hinders  our  government,  or  any  scheme  of 
government,  from  being  any  more  than  a  sort  of  approxima-  5 
tion  to  the  right,  is  it  therefore  that  the  colonies  are  to  recede 
from  it  infinitely?  When  this  child  of  ours  wishes  to  assimi 
late  to  its  parent,  and  to  reflect  with  a  true  filial  resemblance 
the  beauteous  countenance  of  British  liberty ;  are  we  to  turn 
to  them  the  shameful  parts  of  our  constitution?  are  we  to  10 
give  them  our  weakness  for  their  strength  ?  our  opprobrium 
for  their  glory  ?  and  the  slough  of  slavery,  which  we  are  not 
able  to  work  off,  to  serve  them  for  their  freedom  ? 

If  this  be  the  case,  ask  yourselves  this  question,  Will  they 
be  content  in  such  a  state  of  slavery?     If  not,  look  to  the  15 
consequences.     Reflect  how  you  are  to  govern  a  people,  who 
think  they  ought  to  be  free,  and  think  they  are  not.     Your 
scheme  yields  no  revenue  ;  it  yields  nothing  but  discontent, 
disorder,  disobedience ;  and  such  is  the  state  of  America, 
that  after  wading  up  to  your  eyes  in  blood,  you  could  only  20 
end  just  where  you  begun  ;  that  is,  to  tax  where  no  revenue 
is  to  be  found,  to  —  my  voice  fails  me  ;  my  inclination  indeed 
carries  me  no  farther — all  is  confusion  beyond  it. 

Well,  Sir,  I  have  recovered  a  little,  and  before  I  sit  down 
I  must  say  something  to  another  point  with  which  gentlemen  25 
urge  us.     What  is  to  become  of  the  declaratory  act  asserting 
the  entireness  of  British  legislative  authority,  if  we  abandon 
the  practice  of  taxation  ? 

For  my  part  I  look  upon  the  rights  stated  in  that  act, 
exactly  in  the  manner  in  which  I  viewed  them  on  its  very  30 
first  proposition,  and  which  I  have  often  taken  the  liberty, 


68  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

with  great  humility,  to  lay  before  you.  I  look,  I  say,  on  the 
imperial  rights  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  privileges  which  the 
colonists  ought  to  enjoy  under  these  rights,  to  be  just  the 
most  reconcilable  things  in  the  world.  The  parliament  of 

5  Great  Britain  sits  at  the  head  of  her  extensive  empire  in  two 
capacities  :  one  as  the  local  legislature  of  this  island,  provid 
ing  for  all  things  at  home,  immediately,  and  by  no  other  in 
strument  than  the  executive  power.  —  The  other,  and  I  think 
her  nobler  capacity,  is  what  I  call  her  imperial  character ;  in 

10  which,  as  from  the  throne  of  heaven,  she  superintends  all  the 
several  inferior  legislatures,  and  guides  and  controls  them  all, 
without  annihilating  any.  As  all  these  provincial  legislatures 
are  only  co-ordinate  to  each  other,  they  ought  all  to  be 
subordinate  to  her ;  else  they  can  neither  preserve  mutual 

15  peace,  nor  hope  for  mutual  justice,  nor  effectually  afford 
mutual  assistance.  It  is  necessary  to  coerce  the  negligent, 
to  restrain  the  violent,  and  to  aid  the  weak  and  deficient,  by 
the  overruling  plenitude  of  her  power.  She  is  never  to  in 
trude  into  the  place  of  the  others,  whilst  they  are  equal  to 

20  the  common  ends  of  their  institution.  But  in  order  to  enable 
parliament  to  answer  all  these  ends  of  provident  and  benefi 
cent  superintendence,  her  powers  must  be  boundless.  The 
gentlemen  who  think  the  powers  of  parliament  limited,  may 
please  themselves  to  talk  of  requisitions.  But  suppose  the 

25  requisitions  are  not  obeyed  ?  What !  Shall  there  be  no  re 
served  power  in  the  empire,  to  supply  a  deficiency  which  may 
weaken,  divide,  and  dissipate  the  whole  ?  We  are  engaged 
in  war  —  the  secretary  of  state  calls  upon  the  colonies  to 
contribute  —  some  would  do  it,  I  think  most  would  cheerfully 

30  furnish  whatever  is  demanded  —  one  or  two,  suppose,  hang 
back,  and,  easing  themselves,  let  the  stress  of  the  draft  lie 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION.  69 

on  the  others — surely  it  is  proper,  that  some  authority  might 
legally  say  —  "Tax  yourselves  for  the  common  supply,  or 
parliament  will  do  it  for  you."  This  backwardness  was,  as 
I  am  told,  actually  the  case  of  Pennsylvania  for  some  short 
time  towards  the  beginning  of  the  last  war,  owing  to  some  5 
internal  dissensions  in  the  colony.  But  whether  the  fact 
were  so,  or  otherwise,  the  case  is  equally  to  be  provided  for 
by  a  competent  sovereign  power.  But  then  this  ought  to  be 
no  ordinary  power ;  nor  ever  used  in  the  first  instance.  This 
is  what  I  meant,  when  I  have  said  at  various  times,  that  I  J0 
consider  the  power  of  taxing  in  parliament  as  an  instrument 
of  empire,  and  not  as  a  means  of  supply. 

Such,  Sir,  is  my  idea  of  the  constitution  of  the  British  em 
pire,  as  distinguished  from  the  constitution  of  Britain ;  and 
on  these  grounds  I  think  subordination  and  liberty  may  be  15 
sufficiently  reconciled  through  the  whole ;  whether  to  serve 
a  refining  speculatist,  or  a  factious  demagogue,  I  know  not ; 
but  enough  surely  for  the  ease  and  happiness  of  man. 

Sir,  whilst  we  held  this  happy  course,  we  drew  more  from 
the  colonies  than  all  the  impotent  violence  of  despotism  ever  20 
could  extort  from  them.     We  did  this  abundantly  in  the  last 
war.    It  has  never  been  once  denied  —  and  what  reason  have 
we  to  imagine  that  the  colonies  would  not  have  proceeded  in 
supplying  government  as  liberally,  if  you  had  not  stepped  in 
and  hindered  them  from  contributing,  by  interrupting  the  25 
channel  in  which  their  liberality  flowed  with  so  strong  a 
course ;  by  attempting  to  take,  instead  of  being  satisfied  to 
receive  ?     Sir  William  Temple  says,  that  Holland  has  loaded 
itself  with  ten  times  the  impositions  which  it  revolted  from 
Spain  rather  than  submit  to.     He  says  true.     Tyranny  is  a  30 
poor  provider.     It  knows  neither  how  to  accumulate,  nor 
how  to  extract. 


70  SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

fv  r-'J  I  charge  therefore  to  this  new  and  unfortunate  system  the 

loss  not  only  of  peace,  of  union,  and  of  commerce,  but  even 
of  revenue,  which  its  friends  are  contending  for.  —  It  is  mor 
ally  certain,  that  we  have  lost  at  least  a  million  of  free  grants 

5  since  the  peace.  I  think  we  have  lost  a  great  deal  more ; 
and  that  those,  who  look  for  a  revenue  from  the  provinces, 
never  could  have  pursued,  even  in  that  light,  a  course  more 
directly  repugnant  to  their  purposes. 

Now,  Sir,  I  trust  I  have  shown,  first  on  that  narrow  ground 

10  which  the  honourable  gentleman  measured,  that  you  are 
likely  to  lose  nothing  by  complying  with  the  motion,  except 
what  you  have  lost  already.  I  have  shown  afterwards,  that 
in  time  of  peace  you  flourished  in  commerce,  and,  when  war 
required  it,  had  sufficient  aid  from  the  colonies,  while  you 

15  pursued  your  ancient  policy ;  that  you  threw  everything 
into  confusion  when  you  made  the  stamp  act ;  and  that  you 
restored  everything  to  peace  and  order  when  you  repealed 
it.  I  have  shown  that  the  revival  of  the  system  of  taxation 
has  produced  the  very  worst  effects ;  and  that  the  partial 

20  repeal  has  produced,  not  partial  good,  but  universal  evil. 
Let  these  considerations,  founded  on  facts,  not  one  of  which 
can  be  denied,  bring  us  back  to  our  reason  by  the  road  of 
our  experience. 

I  cannot,  as  I  have  said,  answer  for  mixed  measures :  but 

25  surely  this  mixture  of  lenity  would  give  the  whole  a  better 
chance  of  success.  When  you  once  regain  confidence,  the 
way  will  be  clear  before  you.  Then  you  may  enforce  the 
act  of  navigation  when  it  ought  to  be  enforced.  You  will 
yourselves  open  it  where  it  ought  still  further  to  be  opened. 

30  Proceed  in  what  you  do,  whatever  you  do,  from  policy,  and 
not  from  rancour.  Let  us  act  like  men,  let  us  act  like  states- 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN   TAXATION.  71 

men.  Let  us  hold  some  sort  of  consistent  conduct.  —  It  is 
agreed  that  a  revenue  is  not  to  be  had  in  America.  If  we 
lose  the  profit,  let  us  get  rid  of  the  odium. 

On*  this  business  of  America,  I  confess  I  am  serious,  even 
to  sadness.     I  have  had  but  one  opinion  concerning  it  since    5 
I  sat,  and  before  I  sat,  in  parliament.     The  noble  lord 1  will, 
as  usual,  probably  attribute  the  part  taken  by  me  and  my 
friends  in  this  business,  to  a  desire  of  getting  his  places.    Let 
him  enjoy  this  happy  and  original  idea.    If  I  deprived  him  of 
it,  I  should  take  away  most  of  his  wit,  and  all  his  argument.   10 
But  I  had  rather  bear  the  brunt  of  all  his  wit,  and  indeed 
blows  much  heavier,  than  stand  answerable  to  God  for  em 
bracing  a  system  that  tends  to  the  destruction  of  some  of 
the  very  best  and  fairest  of  his  works.     But  I  know  the  map 
of  England,  as  well  as  the  noble  lord,  or  as  any  other  person,   15 
and  I  know  that  the  way  I  take  is  not  the  road  to  prefer 
ment.    My  excellent  and  honourable  friend  under  me  on  the 
floor2  has  trod  that  road   with  great  toil  for  upwards  of 
twenty  years  together.     He  is  not  yet  arrived  at  the  noble 
lord's  destination.     However,  the  tracks  of  my  worthy  friend  20 
are  those  I  have  ever  wished  to  follow ;  because  I  know  they 
lead  to  honour.    Long  may  we  tread  the  same  road  together ; 
whoever  may  accompany  us,  or  whoever  may  laugh  at  us  on 
our  journey  !  I  honestly  and  solemnly  declare,  I  have  in  all 
seasons  adhered  to  the  system,  of  1766,  for  no  other  reason,  25 
than  that  I  think  it  laid  deep  in  your  truest  interest  —  and 
that,  by  limiting  the  exercise,  it  fixes,  on  the  firmest  found 
ations,  a  real,  consistent,  well-grounded  authority  in  parlia 
ment.     Until  you  come  back  to  that  system,  there  will  be 
no  peace  for  England.  3o 


SPEECH    OF   EDMUND   BURKE,    ESQ., 


ON 


HIS    ARRIVAL    AT    BRISTOL. 

OCTOBER  13,  1774. 


GENTLEMEN  :  I  am  come  hither  to  solicit  in  person,  that 
favour  which  my  friends  have  hitherto  endeavoured  to  pro 
cure  for  me,  by  the  most  obliging,  and  to  me  the  most 
honourable,  exertions. 

5  I  have  so  high  an  opinion  of  the  great  trust  which  you 
have  to  confer  on  this  occasion ;  and,  by  long  experience,  so 
just  a  diffidence  in  my  abilities  to  fill  it  in  a  manner  adequate 
even  to  my  own  ideas,  that  J  should  never  have  ventured 
of  myself  to  intrude  into  that  awful  situation.  But  since  I 

10  am  called  upon  by  the  desire  of  several  respectable  fellow- 
subjects,  as  I  have  done  at  other  times,  I  give  up  my  fears 
to  their  wishes.  Whatever  my  other  deficiences  may  be,  I 
do  not  know  what  it  is  to  be  wanting  to  my  friends. 

I  am  not  fond  of  attempting  to  raise  public  expectation 

15  by  great  promises.  At  this  time,  there  is  much  cause  to 
consider,  and  very  little  to  presume.  We  seem  to  be  ap 
proaching  to  a  great  crisis  in  our  affairs,  which  calls  for  the 
whole  wisdom  of  the  wisest  among  us,  without  being  able  to 
assure  ourselves,  that  any  wisdom  can  preserve  us  from 

20  many  and  great  inconveniences.     You  know  I  speak  of  our 
unhappy  contest  with  America.     I  confess,  it  is  a  matter  on 
72 


SPEECH   ON  HIS  ARRIVAL  AT  BRISTOL.  73 

which  I  look  down  as  from  a  precipice.  It  is  difficult  in 
itself,  and  it  is  rendered  more  intricate  by  a  great  variety  of 
plans  of  conduct.  I  do  not  mean  to  enter  into  them.  I 
will  not  suspect  a  want  of  good  intention  in  framing  them. 
But  however  pure  the  intentions  of  their  authors  may  have  5 
been,  we  all  know  that  the  event  has  been  unfortunate. 
The  means  of  recovering  our  affairs  are  not  obvious.  So 
many  great  questions  of  commerce,  of  finance,  of  consti 
tution,  and  of  policy,  are  involved  in  this  American  deliber 
ation,  that  I  dare  engage  for  nothing,  but  that  I  shall  10 
give  it,  without  any  predilection  to  former  opinions,  or  any 
sinister  bias  whatsoever,  the  most  honest  and  impartial 
consideration  of  which  I  am  capable.  The  public  has  a 
full  right  to  it;  and  this  great  city,  a  main  pillar  in  the 
commercial  interest  of  Great  Britain,  must  totter  on  its  base  15 
by  the  slightest  mistake  with  regard  to  our  American 
measures. 

Thus  much,  however,  I  think  it  not  amiss  to  lay  before 
you ;  That  I  am  not,  I  hope,  apt  to  take  up  or  lay  down  my 
opinions  lightly.  I  have  held,  and  ever  shall  maintain,  to  20 
the  best  of  my  power,  unimpaired  and  undiminished,  the 
just,  wise,  and  necessary  constitutional  superiority  of  Great 
Britain.  This  is  necessary  for  America  as  well  as  for  us.  I 
never  mean  to  depart  from  it.  Whatever  may  be  lost  by  it, 
I  avow  it.  The  forfeiture  even  of  your  favour,  if  by  such  a  25 
declaration  I  could  forfeit  it,  though  the  first  object  of  my 
ambition,  never  will  make  me  disguise  my  sentiments  on 
this  subject. 

But,  —  I  have  ever  had  a  clear  opinion,  and  have  ever 
held  a  constant  correspondent  conduct,  that  this  superiority  30 
is  consistent  with  all  the  liberties  a  sober  and  spirited  Amer- 


74  SPEECH  ON  HIS  ARRIVAL   AT  BRISTOL. 

ican  ought  to  desire.  I  never  mean  to  put  any  colonist,  or 
any  human  creature,  in  a  situation  not  becoming  a  free 
man.  To  reconcile  British  superiority  with  American  liberty 
shall  be  my  great  object,  as  far  as  my  little  faculties  extend. 

5  I  am  far  from  thinking  that  both,  even  yet,  may  not  be 
preserved. 

When  I  first  devoted  myself  to  the  public  services  I  con 
sidered  how  I  should  render  myself  fit  for  it ;  and  this  I  did 
by  endeavouring  to  discover  what  it  was  that  gave  this  coun- 

10  try  the  rank  it  holds  in  the  world.  I  found  that  our  pros 
perity  and  dignity  arose  principally,  if  not  solely,  from  two 
sources ;  our  constitution,  and  commerce.  Both  these  I 
have  spared  no  study  to  understand,  and  no  endeavour  to 
support. 

15  The  distinguishing  part  of  our  constitution  is  its  liberty. 
To  preserve  that  liberty  inviolate,  seems  the  particular  duty 
and  proper  trust  of  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
But  the  liberty,  the  only  liberty  I  mean,  is  a  liberty  con 
nected  with  order ;  that  not  only  exists  along  with  order  and 

20  virtue,  but  which  cannot  exist  at  all  without  them.  It  in 
heres  in  good  and  steady  government,  as  in  its  substance 
and  vital  principle. 

The  other  source  of  our  power  is  commerce,  of  which  you 
are  so  large  a  part,  and  which  cannot  exist,  no  more  than 

25  your  liberty,  without  a  connexion  with  many  virtues.  It  has 
ever  been  a  very  particular  and  a  very  favourite  object  of  my 
study,  in  its  principles,  and  in  its  details.  I  think  many 
here  are  acquainted  with  the  truth  of  what  I  say.  This  I 
know,  that  I  have  ever  had  my  house  open,  and  my  poor 

30  services  ready,  for  traders  and  manufacturers  of  every  de 
nomination.  My  favourite  ambition  is  to  have  those  services 


SPEECH  ON  HIS  ARRIVAL  AT  BRISTOL.  75 

acknowledged.  I  now  appear  before  you  to  make  trial, 
whether  my  earnest  endeavours  have  been  so  wholly  oppressed 
by  the  weakness  of  rny  abilities,  as  to  be  rendered  insignifi 
cant  in  the  eyes  of  a  great  trading  city ;  or  whether  you 
choose  to  give  a  weight  to  humble  abilities,  for  the  sake  of  5 
the  honest  exertions  with  which  they  are  accompanied. 
This  is  my  trial  to-day.  My  industry  is  not  on  trial.  Of 
my  industry  I  am  sure,  as  far  as  my  constitution  of  mind 
and  body  admitted. 

When  I  was  invited  by  many  respectable  merchants,  free-  10 
holders,  and  freemen  of  this  city,  to  offer  them  my  services, 
I  had  just  received  the  honour  of  an  election  at  another  place, 
at  a  very  great  distance  from  this.     I  immediately  opened 
the  matter  to  those  of  my  worthy  constituents  who  were 
with  me,  and  they  unanimously  advised  me  not  to  decline  it.  15 
They  told  me,  that  they  had  elected  me  with  a  view  to  the 
public  service  :  and  as  great  questions  relative  to  our  com 
merce  and  colonies  were  imminent,  that  in  such  matters  I 
might  derive  authority  and  support  from  the  representation 
of  this  great  commercial  city ;  they  desired  me  therefore  to  20 
set  off  without  delay,  very  well  persuaded  that  I  never  could 
forget  my  obligations  to  them,  or  to  my  friends,  for  the 
choice  they  have  made  of  me.    From  that  time  to  this  instant 
I  have  not  slept ;  and  if  I  should  have  the  honour  of  being 
freely  chosen  by  you,  I  hope  I  shall  be  as  far  from  slumber-  25 
ing  or  sleeping  when  your  service  requires  me  to  be  awake, 
as  I  have  been  in  coming  to  offer  myself  a  candidate  for  your 
favour. 


SPEECH    OF   EDMUND   BURKE,    ESQ., 

TO  THE 

ELECTORS  OF  BRISTOL 

AT  THE 

CONCLUSION    OF    THE    POLL. 

Nov.  3,  1774. 


GENTLEMEN  :  I  cannot  avoid  sympathizing  strongly  with 
the  feelings  of  the  gentleman  who  has  received  the  same 
honour  that  you  have  conferred  on  me.  If  he,  who  was  bred 
and  passed  his  whole  life  amongst  you  ;  if  he,  who  through 

5  the  easy  gradations  of  acquaintance,  friendship,  and  esteem, 
has  obtained  the  honour,  which  seems  of  itself,  naturally  and 
almost  insensibly,  to  meet  with  those,  who,  by  the  even  tenour 
of  pleasing  manners  and  social  virtues,  slide  into  the  love 
and  confidence  of  their  -fellow-citizens  ; — if  he  cannot  speak 

10  but  with  great  emotion  on  this  subject,  surrounded  as  he  is 
on  all  sides  with  his  old  friends ;  you  will  have  the  goodness 
to  excuse  me,  if  my  real,  unaffected  embarrassment  prevents 
me  from  expressing  my  gratitude  to  you  as  I  ought. 

I  was  brought  hither  under  the  disadvantage  of  being  un- 

15  known,  even  by  sight,  to  any  of  you.     No  previous  canvass 

was  made  for  me.     I  was  put  in  nomination  after  the  poll 

was  opened.     I  did  not  appear  until  it  was  far  advanced. 

If,  under  all  these  accumulated   disadvantages,  your  good 

76 


SPEECH  AT  THE  CONCLUSION  OF  THE  POLL.         77 

opinion  has  carried  me  to  this  happy  point  of  success  ;  you 
will  pardon  me,  if  I  can  only  say  to  you  collectively,  as 
I  said  to  you  individually,  simply,  and  plainly,  I  thank 
you  —  I  am  obliged  to  you  —  I  am  not  insensible  of  your 
kindness.  5 

This  is  all  that  I  am  able  to  say  for  the  inestimable  favour 
you  have  conferred  upon  me.  But  I  cannot  be  satisfied, 
without  saying  a  little  more  in  defence  of  the  right  you  have 
to  confer  such  a  favour.  The  person  that  appeared  here  as 
counsel  for  the  candidate,  who  so  long  and  so  earnestly  so-  10 
licited  your  votes,  thinks  proper  to  deny,  that  a  very  great 
part  of  you  have  any  votes  to  give.  He  fixes  a  standard 
period  of  time  in  his  own  imagination,  not  what  the  law 
defines,  but  merely  what  the  convenience  of  his  client  sug 
gests,  by  which  he  would  cut  off,  at  one  stroke,  all  those  15 
freedoms  which  are  the  dearest  privileges  of  your  corporation  ; 
which  the  common  law  authorizes ;  which  your  magistrates 
are  compelled  to  grant ;  which  come  duly  authenticated  into 
this  court ;  and  are  saved  in  the  clearest  words,  and  with  the 
most  religious  care  and  tenderness,  in  that  very  act  of  parlia-  20 
ment,  which  was  made  to  regulate  the  elections  by  freemen, 
and  to  prevent  all  possible  abuses  in  making  them. 

I  do  not  intend  to  argue  the  matter  here.     My  learned 
counsel  has  supported  your  cause  with  his  usual  ability ;  the 
worthy  sheriffs  have  acted  with  their  usual  equity,  and  I  have  25 
no  doubt,  that  the  same  equity,  which  dictates  the  return, 
will  guide  the  final  determination.     I  had  the  honour,  in 
conjunction  with  many  far  wiser  men,  to  contribute  a  very 
small  assistance,  but,  however,  some  assistance,  to  the  form 
ing  the  judicature  which  is  to  try  such  questions.     It  would  30 
be  unnatural  in  me  to  doubt  the  justice  of  that  court,  in  the 


78         SPEECH  AT  THE  CONCLUSION  OF  THE  POLL. 

trial  of  my  own  cause,  to  which  I  have  been  so  active  to  give 
jurisdiction  over  every  other. 

I  assure  the  worthy  freemen,  and  this  corporation,  that,  if 
the  gentleman  perseveres  in  the  intentions  which  his  present 

5  warmth  dictates  to  him,  I  will  attend  their  cause  with  dili 
gence,  and  I  hope  with  effect.  For,  if  I  know  anything  of 
myself,  it  is  not  my  own  interest  in  it,  but  my  full  convic 
tion,  that  induces  me  to  tell  you  —  /  think  there  is  not  a 
shadow  of  doubt  in  the  case. 

10  I  do  not  imagine  that  you  find  me  rash  in  declaring  my 
self,  or  very  forward  in  troubling  you.  From  the  beginning 
to  the  end  of  the  election,  I  have  kept  silence  in  all  matters 
of  discussion.  I  have  never  asked  a  question  of  a  voter  on 
the  other  side,  or  supported  a  doubtful  vote  on  my  own.  I 

15  respected  the  abilities  of  my  managers  ;  I  relied  on  the  can 
dour  of  the  court.  I  think  the  worthy  sheriffs  will  bear  me 
witness,  that  I  have  never  once  made  an  attempt  to  impose 
upon  their  reason,  to  surprise  their  justice,  or  to  ruffle  their 
temper.  I  stood  on  the  hustings  (except  when  I  gave  my 

20  thanks  to  those  who  favoured  me  with  their  votes)  less  like 
a  candidate,  than  an  unconcerned  spectator  of  a  public  pro 
ceeding.  But  here  the  face  of  things  is  altered.  Here  is  an 
attempt  for  a  general  massacre  of  suffrages ;  an  attempt,  by 
a  promiscuous  carnage  of  friends  and  foes,  to  exterminate 

25  above  two  thousand  votes,  including  seven  hundred  polled  for 
the  gentleman  himself,  who  now  complains,  and  who  would 
destroy  the  friends  whom  he  has  obtained,  only  because  he 
cannot  obtain  as  many  of  them  as  he  wishes. 

How  he  will  be  permitted,  in  another  place,  to  stultify  and 

30  disable  himself,  and  to  plead  against  his  own  acts,  is  another 
question.  The  law  will  decide  it.  I  shall  only  speak  of  it 


SPEECH  AT  THE  CONCLUSION  OF  THE  POLL.        79 

as  it  concerns  the  propriety  of  public  conduct  in  this  city.  I 
do  not  pretend  to  lay  down  rules  of  decorum  for  other  gentle 
men.  They  are  best  judges  of  the  mode  of  proceeding  that 
will  recommend  them  to  the  favour  of  their  fellow-citizens. 
But  I  confess  I  should  look  rather  awkward,  if  I  had  been  5 
the  very  first  to  produce  the  new  copies  of  freedom,  if  I  had 
persisted  in  producing  them  to  the  last ;  if  I  had  ransacked, 
with  the  most  unremitting  industry  and  the  most  penetrating 
research,  the  remotest  corners  of  the  kingdom  to  discover 
them  ;  if  I  were  then,  all  at  once,  to  turn  short,  and  declare,  10 
that  I  had  been  sporting  all  this  while  with  the  right  of  elec 
tion  ;  and  that  I  had  been  drawing  out  a  poll,  upon  no  sort 
of  rational  grounds,  which  disturbed  the  peace  of  my  fellow- 
citizens  for  a  month  together  —  I  really,  for  my  part,  should 
appear  awkward  under  such  circumstances.  15 

It  would  be  still  more  awkward  in  me,  if  I  were  gravely  to 
look  the  sheriffs  in  the  face,  and  to  tell  them,  they  were  not 
to  determine  my  cause  on  my  own  principles ;  not  to  make 
the  return  upon  those  votes  upon  which  I  had  rested  my 
election.  Such  would  be  my  appearance  to  the  court  and  20 
magistrates. 

But  how  should  I  appear  to  the  voters  themselves  ?     If  I 
had  gone  round  to  the  citizens  entitled  to  freedom,  and 
squeezed  them  by  the  hand  —  "  Sir,  I  humbly  beg  your  vote 
—  I  shall  be  eternally  thankful  —  may  I  hope  for  the  honour  25 
of  your  support  ? — Well !  —  come  —  we  shall  see  you  at  the 
council-house  "  —  If  I  were  then  to  deliver  them  to  my  man- 
)  agers,  pack  them  into  tallies,  vote  them  off  in  court,  and 
when  I  heard  from  the  bar  — "  Such  a  one  only  !  and  such  a 
one  for  ever  !  —  he's  my  man  !  "  —  "Thank  you,  good  Sir —  30 
Hah  !    my  worthy  friend  !    thank  you  kindly  —  that's  an 


80         SPEECH  AT  THE  CONCLUSION  OF  THE  POLL. 

honest  fellow  —  how  is  your  good  family?"  —  Whilst  these 
words  were  hardly  out  of  my  mouth,  if  I  should  have 
wheeled  round  at  once,  and  told  them  —  "Get  you  gone, 
you  pack  of  worthless  fellows  !  you  have  no  votes — you  are 

5  usurpers  !  you  are  intruders  on  the  rights  of  real  freemen  ! 
I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  you  !  you  ought  never  to 
have  been  produced  at  this  election,  and  the  sheriffs  ought 
not  to  have  admitted  you  to  poll." 

Gentlemen,  I  should  make  a  strange  figure  if  my  conduct 

10  had  been  of  this  sort.  I  am  not  so  old  an  acquaintance  of 
yours  as  the  worthy  gentleman.  Indeed  I  could  not  have 
ventured  on  such  kind  of  freedoms  with  you.  But  I  am 
bound,  and  I  will  endeavour,  to  have  justice  done  to  the 
rights  of  freemen ;  even  though  I  should,  at  the  same  time, 

15  be  obliged  to  vindicate  the  former1  part  of  my  antagonist's 
conduct  against  his  own  present  inclinations. 

I  owe  myself,  in  all  things,  to  all  the  freemen  of  this  city. 
My  particular  friends  have  a  demand  on  me  that  I  should 
not  deceive  their  expectations.  Never  was  cause  or  man 

20  supported  with  more  constancy,  more  activity,  more  spirit. 
I  have  been  supported  with  a  zeal  indeed  and  heartiness  in 
my  friends,  which  (if  their  object  had  been  at  all  propor 
tioned  to  their  endeavours)  could  never  be  sufficiently  com 
mended.  They  supported  me  upon  the  most  liberal  princi- 

25  pies.  They  wished  that  the  members  for  Bristol  should  be 
chosen  for  the  city,  and  for  their  country  at  large,  and  not 
for  themselves. 

So  far  they  are  not  disappointed.  If  I  possess  nothing 
else,  I  am  sure  I  possess  the  temper  that  is  fit  for  your  ser- 

3o  vice.  I  know  nothing  of  Bristol,  but  by  the  favours  I  have 
received,  and  the  virtues  I  have  seen  exerted  in  it. 


SPEECH  AT  THE  CONCLUSION  OF  THE  POLL.        81 

• 

I  shall  ever  retain,  what  I  now  feel,  the  most  perfect  and 
grateful  attachment  to  my  friends  —  and  I  have  no.  enmi 
ties  ;  no  resentment.  I  never  can  consider  fidelity  to  en 
gagements,  and  constancy  in  friendships,  but  with  the 
highest  approbation ;  even  when  those  noble  qualities  are  5 
employed  against  my  own  pretensions.  The  gentleman,  who 
is  not  so  fortunate  as  I  have  been  in  this  contest,  enjoys,  in 
this  respect,  a  consolation  full  of  honour  both  to  himself  and 
to  his  friends.  They  have  certainly  left  nothing  undone  for 
his  service.  10 

As  for  the  trifling  petulance,  which  the  rage  of  party  stirs 
up  in  little  minds,  though  it  should  show  itself  even  in  this 
court,  it  has  not  made  the  slightest  impression  on  me.  The 
highest  flight  of  such  clamorous  birds  is  winged  in  an  infe 
rior  reign  of  the  air.  We  hear  them,  and  we  look  upon  15 
them,  just  as  you,  gentlemen,  when  you  enjoy  the  serene  air 
on  your  lofty  rocks,  look  down  upon  the  gulls  that  skim  the 
mud  of  your  river,  when  it  is  exhausted  of  its  tide. 

I  am  sorry  I  cannot  conclude  without  saying  a  word  on  a 
topic  touched  upon  by  my  worthy  colleague.  I  wish  that  20 
topic  had  been  passed  by  at  a  time  when  I  have  so  little 
leisure  to  discuss  it.  But  since  he  has  thought  proper  to 
throw  it  out,  I  owe  you  a  clear  explanation  of  my  poor  sen 
timents  on  that  subject. 

He  tells  you  that  "the  topic  of  instructions  has  occasioned  25 
much  altercation  and  uneasiness  in  this  city  "  ;  and  he  ex 
presses  himself  (if  I  understand  him  rightly)  in  favour  of 
the  coercive  authority  of  such  instructions. 

Certainly,  gentlemen,  it  ought  to  be  the  happiness  and 
glory  of  a  representative  to  live  in  the  strictest  union,  the  30 
closest  correspondence,  and  the  most  unreserved  communi- 


82         SPEECH  AT  THE  CONCLUSION  OF  THE  POLL. 

• 

cation  with  his  constituents.  Their  wishes  ought  to  have 
great  weight  with  him ;  their  opinion,  high  respect ;  their 
business,  unremitted  attention.  It  is  his  duty  to  sacrifice 
his  repose,  his  pleasures,  his  satisfactions,  to  theirs ;  and 

5  above  all,  ever,  and  in  all  cases,  to  prefer  their  interest  to 
his  own.  But  his  unbiassed  opinion,  his  mature  judgment, 
his  enlightened  conscience,  he  ought  not  to  sacrifice  to  you, 
to  any  man,  or  to  any  set  of  men  living.  These  he  does  not 
derive  from  your  pleasure ;  no,  nor  from  the  law  and  the 

jo  constitution.  They  are  a  trust  from  Providence,  for  the 
abuse  of  which  he  is  deeply  answerable.  Your  representa 
tive  owes  you,  not  his  industry  only,  but  his  judgment ;  and 
he  betrays,  instead  of  serving  you,  if  he  sacrifices  it  to  your 
opinion. 

15  My  worthy  colleague  says,  his  will  ought  to  be  subservient 
to  yours.  If  that  be  all,  the  thing  is  innocent.  If  govern 
ment  were  a  matter  of  will  upon  any  side,  yours,  without 
question,  ought  to  be  superior.  But  government  and  legis 
lation  are  matters  of  reason  and  judgment,  and  not  of 

20  inclination ;  and  what  sort  of  reason  is  that,  in  which  the 
determination  precedes  the  discussion ;  in  which  one  set  of 
men  deliberate,  and  another  decide ;  and  where  those  who 
form  the  conclusion  are  perhaps  three  hundred  miles  distant 
from  those  who  hear  the  arguments  ? 

25  To  deliver  an  opinion,  is  the  right  of  all  men ;  that  of 
constituents  is  a  weighty  and  respectable  opinion,  which  a 
representative  ought  always  to  rejoice  to  hear ;  and  which 
he  ought  always  most  seriously  to  consider.  But  authorita 
tive  instructions ;  mandates  issued,  which  the  member  is 

30  bound  blindly  and  implicitly  to  obey,  to  vote,  and  to  argue 
for,  though  contrary  to  the  clearest  conviction  of  his  judg- 


SPEECH  AT  THE  CONCLUSION  OF  THE  POLL.        S3 

ment  and  conscience,  —  these  are  things  utterly  unknown  to 
the  laws  of  this  land,  and  which  arise  from  a  fundamental 
mistake  of  the  whole  order  and  tenor  of  our  constitution. 

Parliament  is  not  a  congress  of  ambassadors  from  different 
and  hostile  interests ;  which  interests  each  must  maintain,  as  5 
an  agent  and  advocate,  against  other  agents  and  advocates ; 
but  parliament  is  a  deliberative  assembly  of  one  nation,  with 
one  interest,  that  of  the  whole ;  where,  not  local  purposes, 
not  local  prejudices,  ought  to  guide,  but  the  general  good, 
resulting  from  the  general  reason  of  the  whole.  You  choose  10 
a  member  indeed  ;  but  when  you  have  chosen  him,  he  is  not 
member  of  Bristol,  but  he  is  a  member  of  parliament.  If 
the  local  constituent  should  have  an  interest,  or  should  form 
an  hasty  opinion,  evidently  opposite  to  the  real  good  of  the 
rest  of  the  community,  the  member  for  that  place  ought  to  15 
be  as  far,  as  any  other,  from  any  endeavour  to  give  it  effect. 
I  beg  pardon  for  saying  so  much  on  this  subject.  I  have 
been  unwillingly  drawn  into  it ;  but  I  shall  ever  use  a  respect 
ful  frankness  of  communication  with  you.  Your  faithful 
friend,  your  devoted  servant,  I  shall  be  to  the  end  of  my  20 
life  :  a  flatterer  you  do  not  wish  for.  On  this  point  of 
instructions,  however,  I  think  it  scarcely  possible  we  ever 
can  have  any  sort  of  difference.  Perhaps  I  may  give  you 
too  much,  rather  than  too  little,  trouble. 

From  the  first  hour  I  was  encouraged  to  court  your  favour,  25 
to  this  happy  day  of  obtaining  it,  I  have  never  promised  you 
anything  but  humble  and  persevering  endeavours  to  do  my 
duty.    The  weight  of  that  duty,  I  confess,  makes  me  tremble  ; 
and  whoever  well  considers  what  it  is,  of  all  things  in  the 
world,  will  fly  from  what  has  the  least  likeness  to  a  positive  30 
and  precipitate  engagement.     To  be  a  good  member  of  par- 


84         SPEECH  AT  THE  CONCLUSION  OF  THE  POLL. 

liament  is,  let  me  tell  you,  no  easy  task ;  especially  at  this 
time,  when  there  is  so  strong  a  disposition  to  run  into  the 
perilous  extremes  of  servile  compliance  or  wild  popularity. 
To  unite  circumspection  with  vigour,  is  absolutely  necessary ; 
5  but  it  is  extremely  difficult.  We  are  now  members  for  a 
rich  commercial  city;  this  city,  however,  is  but  a  part  of  a 
rich  commercial  nation,  the  interests  of  which  are  various, 
multiform,  and  intricate.  We  are  members  for  that  great 
nation,  which,  however,  is  itself  but  part  of  a  great  empire, 
10  extended  by  our  virtue  and  our  fortune  to  the  farthest  limits 
of  the  east  and  of  the  west.  All  these  wide-spread  interests 
must  be  considered  ;  must  be  compared  ;  must  be  reconciled, 
if  possible.  We  are  members  for  a  free  country ;  and  surely 
we  all  know,  that  the  machine  of  a  free  constitution  is  no 
15  simple  thing ;  but  as  intricate  and  as  delicate  as  it  is  valu 
able.  We  are  members  in  a  great  and  ancient  monarchy  ; 
and  we  must  preserve  religiously  the  true  legal  rights  of  the 
sovereign,  which  form  the  key-stone  that  binds  together  the 
noble  and  well-constructed  arch  of  our  empire  and  our  con- 
so  stitution.  A  constitution  made  up  of  balanced  powers  must 
ever  be  a  critical  thing.  As  such  I  mean  to  touch  that  part 
of  it  which  comes  within  my  reach.  I  know  my  inability, 
and  I  wish  for  support  from  every  quarter.  In  particular  I 
shall  aim  at  the  friendship,  and  shall  cultivate  the  best  cor- 
25  respondence,  of  the  worthy  colleague  you  have  given  me. 

I  trouble  you  no  further  than  once  more  to  thank  you  all ; 
you,  gentlemen,  for  your  favours ;  the  candidates,  for  their 
temperate  and  polite  behaviour ;  and  the  sheriffs,  for  a  con 
duct  which  may  give  a  model  for  all  who  are  in  public 
3o  stations. 


SPEECH    OF   EDMUND   BURKE,    ESQ., 

ON 

MOVING  HIS  RESOLUTIONS 

FOR 

CONCILIATION  WITH  THE  COLONIES. 

MARCH  22,  1775. 


I  HOPE,  Sir,  that,  notwithstanding  the  austerity  of  the 
Chair,  your  good-nature  will  incline  you  to  some  degree  of 
indulgence  towards  human  frailty.  You  will  not  think  it 
unnatural,  that  those  who  have  an  object  depending,  which 
strongly  engages  their  hopes  and  fears,  should  be  somewhat  5 
inclined  to  superstition.  As  I  came  into  the  House  full  of 
anxiety  about  the  event  of  my  motion,  I  found,  to  my  in 
finite  surprise,  that  the  grand  penal  bill,  by  which  he  had 
passed  sentence  on  the  trade  and  sustenance  of  America,  is 
to  be  returned  to  us  from  the  other  House.1  I  do  confess,  10 
I  could  not  help  looking  on  this  event  as  a  fortunate  omen. 
I  look  upon  it  as  a  sort  of  providential  favour ;  by  which  we 
are  put  once  more  in  possession  of  our  deliberate  capacity, 
upon  a  business  so  very  questionable  in  its  nature,  so  very 
uncertain  in  its  issue.  By  the  return  of  this  bill,  which  15 
seemed  to  have  taken  its  flight  for  ever,  we  are  at  this  very 
instant  nearly  as  free  to  choose  a  plan  for  our  American  gov 
ernment  as  we  were  on  the  first  day  of  the  session.  If,  Sir, 

85 


86  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

we  incline  to  the  side  of  conciliation,  we  are  not  at  all  em 
barrassed  (unless  we  please  to  make  ourselves  so)  by  any 
incongruous  mixture  of  coercion  and  restraint.  We  are 
therefore  called  upon,  as  it  were  by  a  superior  warning 

5  voice,  again  to  attend  to  America ;  to  attend  to  the  whole 
of  it  together ;  and  to  review  the  subject  with  an  unusual 
degree  of  care  and  calmness. 

Surely  it  is  an  awful  subject ;  or  there  is  none  so  on  this 
side  of  the  grave.  When  I  first  had  the  honour  of  a  seat  in 

10  this  House,  the  affairs  of  that  continent  pressed  themselves 
upon  us,  as  the  most  important  and  most  delicate  object 
of  parliamentary  attention.  My  little  share  in  this  great 
deliberation  oppressed  me.  I  found  myself  a  partaker  in  a 
very  high  trust ;  and  having  no  sort  of  reason  to  rely  on  the 

15  strength  of  my  natural  abilities  for  the  proper  execution  of 
that  trust,  I  was  obliged  to  take  more  than  common  paints  to 
instruct  myself  in  everything  which  relates  to  our  colonies. 
I  was  not  less  under  the  necessity  of  forming  some  fixed  ideas 
concerning  the  general  policy  of  the  British  empire.  Some- 

20  thing  of  this  sort  seemed  to  be  indispensable ;  in  order, 
amidst  so  vast  a  fluctuation  of  passions  and  opinions,  to  con 
centre  my  thoughts  ;  to  ballast  my  conduct ;  to  preserve  me 
from  being  blown  about  by  every  wind  of  fashionable  doc 
trine.  I  really  did  not  think  it  safe,  or  manly,  to  have  fresh 

25  principles  to  seek  upon  every  fresh  mail  which  should  arrive 
from  America. 

At  that  period  I  had  the  fortune  to  find  myself  in  perfect 
concurrence  with  a  large  majority  in  this  House.1  Bowing 
under  that  high  authority,  and  penetrated  with  the  sharp- 

30  ness  and  strength  of  that  early  impression,  I  have  continued 
ever  since,  without  the  least  deviation,  in  my  original  send- 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  87 

ments.  Whether  this  be  owing  to  an  obstinate  perseverance 
in  error,  or  to  a  religious  adherence  to  what  appears  to  me 
truth  and  reason,  it  is  in  your  equity  to  judge. 

Sir}  parliament  having  an  enlarged  view  of  objects,  made, 
during  this  interval,  more  frequent  changes  in  their  senti-    5 
ments  and  their  conduct,  than  could  be  justified  in  a  partic 
ular  person  upon  the  contracted  scale  of  private  information. 
But  though  I  do  not  hazard  anything  approaching  to  censure 
on  the  motives  of  former  parliaments  to  all  those  alterations, 
one  fact  is  undoubted,  —  that  under  them  the  state  of  Amer-   10 
ica  has  been  kept  in  continual  agitation.     Everything  ad 
ministered  as  remedy  to  the  public  complaint,  if  it  did  not 
produce,  was  at  least  followed  by,  an  heightening  of  the  dis 
temper  ;  until,  by  a  variety  of  experiments,  that  important 
country  has  been  brought  into  her  present  situation ; —  a  situ-   15 
ation  which  I  will  not  miscall,  which  I  dare  not  name  ;  which 
I  scarcely  know  how  to  comprehend  in  the  terms  of  any 
description. 

In  this  posture,  Sir,  things  stood  at  the  beginning  of  the 
session.    About  that  time,  a  worthy  member l  of  great  parlia-  20 
mentary  experience,  who,  in  the  year  1766,  filled  the  chair  of 
the  American  committee  with  much  ability,  took  me  aside ; 
and,  lamenting  the  present  aspect  of  our  politics,  told  me, 
things  were  come  to  such  a  pass,  that  our  former  methods 
of  proceeding  in  the  House  would  be  no  longer  tolerated.  25 
That  the  public  tribunal  (never  too  indulgent  to  a  long  and 
unsuccessful  opposition)  would  now  scrutinize  our  conduct 
with  unusual  severity.     That  the  very  vicissitudes  and  shift- 
ings  of  ministerial  measures,  instead  of  convicting  their  au 
thors  of  inconstancy  and  want  of  system,  would  be  taken  as  30 
an  occasion  of  charging  us  with  a  predetermined  discontent, 


88  ON  CONCILIATION    WITH  AMERICA. 

which  nothing  could  satisfy  ;  whilst  we  accused  every  measure 
of  vigour  as  cruel,  and  every  proposal  of  lenity  as  weak  and 
irresolute.  The  public,  he  said,  would  not  have  patience  to 
see  us  play  the  game  out  with  our  adversaries  :  we  must  pro- 

5  duce  our  hand.  It  would  be  expected,  that  those  who  for 
many  years  had  been  active  in  such  affairs  should  show  that 
they  had  formed  some  clear  and  decided  idea  of  the  prin 
ciples  of  colony  government ;  and  were  capable  of  drawing 
out  something  like  a  platform  of  the  ground  which  might  be 

10  laid  for  future  and  permanent  tranquillity. 

I  felt  the  truth  of  what  my  honourable  friend  represented  ; 
but  I  felt  my  situation  too.  His  application  might  have  been 
made  with  far  greater  propriety  to  many  other  gentlemen. 
No  man  was  indeed  ever  better  disposed,  or  worse  qualified, 

15  for  such  an  undertaking,  than  myself.  Though  I  gave  so  far 
in  to  his  opinion,  that  I  immediately  threw  my  thoughts  into 
a  sort  of  parliamentary  form,  I  was  by  no  means  equally  ready 
to  produce  them.  It  generally  argues  some  degree  of  natural 
impotence  of  mind,  or  some  want  of  knowledge  of  the  world, 

20  to  hazard  plans  of  government  except  from  a  seat  of  au 
thority.  Propositions  are  made,  not  only  ineffectually,  but 
somewhat  disreputably,  when  the  minds  of  men  are  not  prop 
erly  disposed  for  their  reception ;  and  for  my  part,  I  am 
not  ambitious  of  ridicule ;  not  absolutely  a  candidate  for 

25  disgrace. 

Besides,  Sir,  to  speak  the  plain  truth,  I  have  in  general 
no  very  exalted  opinion  of  the  virtue  of  paper  government ; 
nor  of  any  politics  in  which  the  plan  is  to  be  wholly  sepa 
rated  from  the  execution.  But  when  I  saw  that  anger  and 

30  violence  prevailed  every  day  more  and  more ;  and  that 
things  were  hastening  towards  an  incurable  alienation  of 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  89 

our  colonies ;  I  confess  my  caution  gave  way.  I  felt  this, 
as  one  of  those  few  moments  in  which  decorum  yields  to 
a  higher  duty.  Public  calamity  is  a  mighty  leveller ;  and 
there  are  occasions  when  any,  even  the  slightest,  chance 
of  doing  good,  must  be  laid  hold  on,  even  by  the  most  5 
inconsiderable  person. 

To  restore  order  and  repose  to  an  empire  so  great  and 
so  distracted  as  ours,  is,  merely  in  the  attempt,  an  under 
taking  that  would  ennoble  the  flights  of  the  highest  genius, 
and  obtain  pardon  for  the  efforts  of  the  meanest  under-  10 
standing.  Struggling  a  good  while  with  these  thoughts,  by 
degrees  I  felt  myself  more  firm.  I  derived,  at  length,  some 
confidence  from  what  in  other  circumstances  usually  pro 
duces  timidity.  I  grew  less  anxious,  even  from  the  idea 
of  my  own  insignificance.  For,  judging  of  what  you  are  by  15 
what  you  ought  to  be,  I  persuaded  myself  that  you  would 
not  reject  a  reasonable  proposition  because  it  had  nothing 
but  its  reason  to  recommend  it.  On  the  other  hand,  being 
totally  destitute  of  all  shadow  of  influence,  natural  or  adven 
titious,  I  was  very  sure,  that,  if  my  proposition  were  futile  20 
or  dangerous ;  if  it  were  weakly  conceived,  or  improperly 
timed,  there  was  nothing  exterior  to  it,  of  power  to  awe, 
dazzle,  or  delude  you.  You  will  see  it  just  as  it  is  :  and 
you  will  treat  it  just  as  it  deserves. 

The  proposition  is  peace.     Not  peace  through  the  me-  25 
dium  of  war ;  not  peace  to  be  hunted  through  the  labyrinth 
of  intricate  and  endless  negotiations;    not  peace  to  arise 
out  of  universal   discord,  fomented   from  principle,  in  all 
parts  of  the  empire ;  not  peace  to  depend  on  the  juridical 
determination  of  perplexing  questions,  or  the  precise  mark-  30 
ing  the  shadowy  boundaries  of  a  complex  government.     It 


90  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

is  simple  peace ;  sought  in  its  natural  course,  and  in  its 
ordinary  haunts.  —  It  is  peace  sought  in  the  spirit  of  peace ; 
and  laid  in  principles  purely  pacific.  I  propose,  by  remov 
ing  the  ground  of  the  difference,  and  by  restoring  the  former 

5  unsuspecting  confidence  of  the  colonies  in  the  mother  country, 
to  give  permanent  satisfaction  to  your  people ;  and  (far 
from  a  scheme  of  ruling  by  discord)  to  reconcile  them  to 
each  other  in  the  same  act,  and  by  the  bond  of  the  very 
same  interest  which  reconciles  them  to  British  government. 

10  My  idea  is  nothing  more.  Refined  policy  ever  has  been 
the  parent  of  confusion ;  and  ever  will  be  so,  as  long  as  the 
world  endures.  Plain  good  intention,  which  is  as  easily 
discovered  at  the  first  view,  as  fraud  is  surely  detected  at 
last,  is,  let  me  say,  of  no  mean  force  in  the  government  of 

15  mankind.  Genuine  simplicity  of  heart  is  an  healing  and 
cementing  principle.  My  plan,  therefore,  being  formed 
upon  the  most  simple  grounds  imaginable,  may  disappoint 
some  people,  when  they  hear  it.  It  has  nothing  to  rec 
ommend  it  to  the  pruriency  of  curious  ears.  There  is 

20  nothing  at  all  new  and  captivating  in  it.  It  has  nothing 
of  the  splendour  of  the  project,  which  has  been  lately  laid 
upon  your  table  by  the  noble  lord  in  the  blue  riband.1  It 
does  not  propose  to  fill  your  lobby  with  squabbling  colony 
agents,  who  will  require  the  interposition  of  your  mace,  at 

25  every  instant,  to  keep  the  peace  amongst  them.  It  does 
not  institute  a  magnificent  auction  of  finance,  where  capti 
vated  provinces  come  to  general  ransom  by  bidding  against 
each  other,  until  you  knock  down  the  hammer,  and  deter 
mine  a  proportion  of  payments  beyond  all  the  powers  of 

30  algebra  to  equalize  and  settle. 

The  plan  which  I  shall  presume  to  suggest,  derives,  how- 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  91 

ever,  one  great  advantage  from  the  proposition  and  registry 
of  that  noble  lord's  project.  The  idea  of  conciliation  is 
admissible.  First,  the  House,  in  accepting  the  resolution 
moved  by  the  noble  lord,  has  admitted,  notwithstanding  the 
menacing  front  of  our  address,1  notwithstanding  our  heavy  5 
bill  of  pains  and  penalties  —  that  we  do  not  think  ourselves 
precluded  from  all  ideas  of  free  grace  and  bounty. 

The  House  has  gone  further ;  it  has  declared  conciliation 
admissible,  previous  to  any  submission  on  the  part  of  Amer 
ica.  It  has  even  shot  a  good  deal  beyond  that  mark,  and  10 
has  admitted,  that  the  complaints  of  our  former  mode  of 
exerting  the  right  of  taxation  were  not  wholly  unfounded. 
That  right  thus  exerted  is  allowed  to  have  had  something 
reprehensible  in  it ;  something  unwise,  or  something  griev 
ous  ;  since,  in  the  midst  of  our  heat  and  resentment,  we,  of  15 
ourselves,  have  proposed  a  capital  alteration ;  and,  in  order 
to  get  rid  of  what  seemed  so  very  exceptionable,  have  insti 
tuted  a  mode  that  is  altogether  new ;  one  that  is,  indeed, 
wholly  alien  from  all  the  ancient  methods  and  forms  of  par 
liament.  20 : 

The  principle  of  this  proceeding  is  large  enough  for  my 
purpose.  The  means  proposed  by  the  noble  lord  for  carry 
ing  his  ideas  into  execution,  I  think,  indeed,  are  very  indif 
ferently  suited  to  the  end  ;  and  this  I  shall  endeavour  to  show 
you  before  I  sit  down.  But,  for  the  present,  I  take  my  25 
ground  on  the  admitted  principle.  I  mean  to  give  peace. 
Peace  implies  reconciliation ;  and,  where  there  has  been  a 
material  dispute,  reconciliation  does  in  a  manner  always 
imply  concession  on  the  one  part  or  on  the  other.  In  this 
state  of  things  I  make  no  difficulty  in  affirming  that  the  pro-  30 
posal  ought  to  originate  from  us.  Great  and  acknowledged 


92  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

force  is  not  impaired,  either  in  effect  or  in  opinion,  by  an 
unwillingness  to  exert  itself.  The  superior  power  may  offer 
peace  with  honour  and  with  safety.  Such  an  offer  from  such 
a  power  will  be  attributed  to  magnanimity.  But  the  conces- 

5  sions  of  the  weak  are  the  concessions  of  fear.  When  such  a 
one  is  disarmed,  he  is  wholly  at  the  mercy  of  his  superior ; 
and  he  loses  for  ever  that  time  and  those  chances,  which,  as 
they  happen  to  all  men,  are  the  strength  and  resources  of  all 
inferior  power. 

10  The  capital  leading  questions  on  which  you  must  this  day 
decide,  are  these  two  :  First,  whether  you  ought  to  concede  ; 
and  secondly,  what  your  concession  ought  to  be.  On  the 
first  of  these  questions  we  have  gained  (as  I  have  just  taken 
the  liberty  of  observing  to  you)  some  ground.  But  I  am 

15  sensible  that  a  good  deal  more  is  still  to  be  done.  Indeed, 
Sir,  to  enable  us  to  determine  both  on  the  one  and  the  other 
of  these  great  questions  with  a  firm  and  precise  judgment,  I 
think  it  may  be  necessary  to  consider  distinctly  the  true 
nature  and  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  object  which 

20  we  have  before  us.  Because  after  all  our  struggle,  whether 
we  will  or  not,  we  must  govern  America  according  to  that 
nature,  and  to  those  circumstances ;  and  not  according  to 
our  own  imaginations ;  nor  according  to  abstract  ideas  of 
right ;  by  no  means  according  to  mere  general  theories  of 

25  government,  the  resort  to  which  appears  to  me,  in  our 
present  situation,  no  better  than  arrant  trifling.  I  shall 
therefore  endeavour,  with  your  leave,  to  lay  before  you  some 
of  the  most  material  of  these  circumstances  in  as  full  and  as 
clear  a  manner  as  I  am  able  to  state  them. 

30  The  first  thing  that  we  have  to  consider  with  regard  to 
the  nature  of  the  object  is  —  the  number  of  people  in  the 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  93 

colonies.  I  have  taken  for  some  years  a  good  deal  of  pains 
on  that  point.  I  can  by  no  calculation  justify  myself  in 
placing  the  number  below  two  millions  of  inhabitants  of  our 
own  European  blood  and  colour;  besides  at  least  500,000 
others,  who  form  no  inconsiderable  part  of  the  strength  and  5 
opulence  of  the  whole.  This,  Sir,  is,  I  believe,  about  the 
true  number.  There  is  no  occasion  to  exaggerate,  where 
plain  truth  is  of  so  much  weight  and  importance.  But 
whether  I  put  the  present  numbers  too  high  or  too  low,  is  a 
matter  of  little  moment.  Such  is  the  strength  with  which  10 
population  shoots  in  that  part  of  the  world,  that  state  the 
numbers  as  high  as  we  will,  whilst  the  dispute  continues,  the 
exaggeration  ends.  Whilst  we  are  discussing  any  given 
magnitude,  they  are  grown  to  it.  Whilst  we  spend  our  time 
in  deliberating  on  the  mode  of  governing  two  millions,  we  15 
shall  find  we  have  millions  more  to  manage.  Your  children 
do  not  grow  faster  from  infancy  to  manhood,  than  they 
spread  from  families  to  communities,  and  from  villages  to 
nations.1 

I  put  this  consideration  of  the  present  and  the  growing  2o 
numbers  in  the  front  of  our  deliberation ;  because,  Sir,  this 
consideration  will  make  it  evident  to  a  blunter  discernment 
than  yours,  that  no  partial,  narrow,  contracted,  pinched,  oc 
casional  system  will  be  at  all  suitable  to  such  an  object.     It 
will  show  you,  that  it  is  not  to  be  considered  as  one  of  those  25 
minima 2  which  are  out  of  the  eye  and  consideration  of  the 
law ;  not  a  paltry  excrescence  of  the  state  ;  not  a  mean  de 
pendent,  who  may  be  neglected  with  little  damage,  and  pro 
voked  with  little  danger.     It  will  prove  that  some  degree  of 
care  and  caution  is  required  in  the  handling  such  an  object ;  30 
it  will  show  that  you  ought  not,  in  reason,  to  trifle  with  so 


94  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

large  a  mass  of  the  interests  and  feelings  of  the  human  race. 
You  could  at  no  time  do  so  without  guilt ;  and  be  assured 
you  will  not  be  able  to  do  it  long  with  impunity. 

But  the  population  of  this  country,  the  great  and  growing 

5  population,  though  a  very  important  consideration,  will  lose 
much  of  its  weight,  if  not  combined  with  other  circumstances. 
The  commerce  of  your  colonies  is  out  of  all  proportion  be 
yond  the  numbers  of  the  people.  This  ground  of  their  com 
merce  indeed  has  been  trod  some  days  ago,  and  with  great 

10  ability,  by  a  distinguished  person,1  at  your  bar.  This  gentle 
man,  after  thirty-five  years  —  it  is  so  long  since  he  first 
appeared  at  the  same  place  to  plead  for  the  commerce  of 
Great  Britain  —  has  come  again  before  you  to  plead  the 
same  cause,  without  any  other  effect  of  time,  than,  that  to 

15  the  fire  of  imagination  and  extent  of  erudition,  which  even 
then  marked  him  as  one  of  the  first  literary  characters  of  his 
age,  he  has  added  a  consummate  knowledge  in  the  com 
mercial  interest  of  his  country,  formed  by  a  long  course  of 
enlightened  and  discriminating  experience. 

20  Sir,  I  should  be  inexcusable  in  coming  after  such  a  person 
with  any  detail,  if  a  great  part  of  the  members  who  now  fill 
the  House  had  not  the  misfortune  to  be  absent  when  he 
appeared  at  your  bar.  Besides,  Sir,  I  propose  to  take  the 
matter  at  periods  of  time  somewhat  different  from  his. 

25  There  is,  if  I  mistake  not,  a  point  of  view,  from  whence  if 
you  will  look  at  this  subject,  it  is  impossible  that  it  should 
not  make  an  impression  upon  you. 

I  have  in  my  hand  two  accounts  ;  one  a  comparative  state 
of  the  export  trade  of  England  to  its  colonies,  as  it  stood  in 

30  the  year  1704,  and  as  it  stood  in  the  year  1772.  The  other 
a  state  of  the  export  trade  of  this  country  to  its  colonies 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  95 

alone,  as  it  stood  in  1772,  compared  with  the  whole  trade 
of  England  to  all  parts  of  the  world  (the  colonies  included) 
in  the  year  1  704.  They  are  from  good  vouchers  ;  the  latter 
period  from  the  accounts  on  your  table,  the  earlier  from  an 
original  manuscript  of  Davenant,  who  first  established  the  5 
inspector-general's  office,  which  has  been  ever  since  his 
time  so  abundant  a  source  of  parliamentary  information. 

The  export  trade  to  the  colonies  consists  of  three  great 
branches.     The  African,  which,  terminating  almost  wholly 
in  the  colonies,  must  be  put  to  the  account  of  their  com-  10 
merce  ;  l  the  West  Indian  ;  2  and  the  North  American.     All 
these  are  so  interwoven,  that  the  attempt  to  separate  them, 
would  tear  to  pieces  the  contexture  of  the  whole  ;  and  if 
not  entirely  destroy,  would  very  much  depreciate  the  value 
of  all  the  parts.     I  therefore  consider  these  three  denomi-  15 
nations  to  be,  what  in  effect  they  are,  one  trade. 

The  trade  to  the  colonies,  taken  on  the  export  side,  at 
the  beginning  of  this  century,  that  is,  in  the  year  1704, 
stood  thus  : 

Exports  to  North  America,  and  the  West  Indies         .     ,£483,265        20 
To  Africa   .........          86,665 


In  the  year  1772,  which  I  take  as  a  middle  year  between 
the  highest  and  lowest  of  those  lately  laid  on  your  table,  the 
account  was  as  follows  :  25 

To  North  America,  and  the  West  Indies          .         .     £4,791,734 
To  Africa         ........  866,398 

To  which  if  you  add  the  export  trade  from  Scotland, 

which  had  in  1  704  no  existence    .  364,000 

£6,022,132        30 


96  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

From  five  hundred  and  odd  thousand,  it  has  grown  to  six 
millions.  It  has  increased  no  less  than  twelve-fold.  This  is 
the  state  of  the  colony  trade,  as  compared  with  itself  at 
these  two  periods,  within  this  century;  —  and  this  is  matter 
5  for  meditation.  But  this  is  not  all.  Examine  my  second 
account.  See  how  the  export  trade  to  the  colonies  alone  in 
1772  stood  in  the  other  point  of  view,  that  is,  as  compared 
to  the  whole  trade  of  England  in  1 704. 

The  whole  export  trade  of  England,  including  that  to 

10  the  colonies,  in  1704 ^6,509,000 

Export  to  the  colonies  alone,  in  1772       .         .         .       6,024,00x3 

Difference  ,£485,000 

The  trade  with  America  alone  is  now  within  less  than 
^500,000  of  being  equal  to  what  this  great  commercial 

15  nation,  England,  carried  on  at  the  beginning  of  this  century 
with  the  whole  world  !  If  I  had  taken  the  largest  year  of 
those  on  your  table,  it  would  rather  have  exceeded.  But,  it 
will  be  said,  is  not  this  American  trade  an  unnatural  pro 
tuberance,  that  has  drawn  the  juices  from  the  rest  of  the 

20  body  ?  The  reverse.  It  is  the  very  food  that  has  nourished 
every  other  part  into  its  present  magnitude.  Our  general 
trade  has  been  greatly  augmented,  and  augmented  more  or 
less  in  almost  every  part  to  which  it  ever  extended ;  but 
with  this  material  difference,  that  of  the  six  millions  which 

25  in  the  beginning  of  the  century  constituted  the  whole  mass 
of  our  export  commerce,  the  colony  trade  was  but  one-twelfth 
part ;  it  is  now  (as  a  part  of  sixteen  millions)  considerably 
more  than  a  third  of  the  whole.  This  is  the  relative.propor- 
tion  of  the  importance  of  the  colonies  at  these  two  periods  : 

30  and  all  reasoning  concerning  our  mode  of  treating  them 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  97 

must  have  this  proportion  as  its  basis,  or  it  is  a  reasoning 
weak,  rotten,  and  sophistical.1 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  cannot  prevail  on  myself  to  hurry  over  this 
great  consideration.     It  is  good  for  us  to  be  here.    We  stand 
where  we  have  an  immense  view  of  what  is,  and  what  is  past.     5 
Clouds,  indeed,  and  darkness  rest  upon  the  future.     Let  us, 
however,  before  we  descend  from  this  noble  eminence,  reflect 
that  this  growth  of  our  national  prosperity  has  happened 
within  the  short  period  of  the  life  of  man.     It  has  happened 
within  sixty-eight  years.     There  are  those  alive  whose  mem-   10 
ory  might  touch  the  two  extremities.    For  instance,  my  Lord 
Bathurst  might  remember  all  the  stages  of  the  progress.     He 
was  in  1 704  of  an  age  at  least  to  be  made  to  comprehend 
such  things.     He  was  then  old  enough  acta  parentum  jam 
legere,  et qua  sit poterit  cognoscere  virtus'2' — Suppose,  Sir,  that  15 
the  angel  of  this  auspicious  youth,  foreseeing  the  many  vir 
tues,  which  made  him  one  of  the  most  amiable,  as  he  is  one 
of  the  most  fortunate,  men  of  his  age,  had  opened  to  him  in 
vision,  that  when,  in  the  fourth  generation,  the  third  prince 
of  the   House  of  Brunswick   had  sat  twelve    years  on  the  20 
throne  of  that  nation,  which  (by  the  happy  issue  of  moderate 
and  healing  councils)  was  to  be  made  Great  Britain,  he 
should  see  his  son,3  Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  turn  back 
the  current  of  hereditary  dignity  to  its  fountain,  and  raise 
him  to  a  higher  rank  of  peerage,  whilst  he  enriched  the  25 
family  with  a  new  one  —  If  amidst  these  bright  and  happy 
scenes  of  domestic  honour  and  prosperity,  that  angel  should 
have  drawn  up  the  curtain,  and  unfolded  the  rising  glories 
of  his  country,  and  whilst  he  was  gazing  with  admiration  on 
the  then  commercial  grandeur  of  England,  the  genius  should  30 
point  out  to  him  a  little  speck,  scarce  visible  in  the  mass  of 


98  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

the  national  interest,  a  small  seminal  principle,  rather  than 
a  formed  body,  and  should  tell  him  — "  Young  man,  there 
is  America  —  which  at  this  day  serves  for  little  more  than  to 
amuse  you  with  stories  of  savage  men,  and  uncouth  manners  ; 

5    yet  shall,  before  you  taste  of  death,  show  itself  equal  to  the 

whole  of  that  commerce  which  now  attracts  the  envy  of  the 

world.     Whatever  England  has  been  growing  to  by  a  pro- 

.    gressive  increase  of  improvement,  brought  in  by  varieties  of 

people,  by  succession  of  civilizing  conquests  and  civilizing 

10  settlements  in  a  series  of  seventeen  hundred  years,  you  shall 
see  as  much  added  to  her  by  America  in  the  course  of  a 
single  life  !  "  If  this  state  of  his  country  had  been  foretold 
to  him,  would  it  not  require  all  the  sanguine  credulity  of 
youth,  and  all  the  fervid  glow  of  enthusiasm,  to  make  him 

15  believe  it?  Fortunate  man,  he  has  lived  to  see  it !  Fortu 
nate  indeed,  if  he  lives  to  see  nothing  that  shall  vary  the 
prospect,  and  cloud  the  setting  of  his  day  ! l 

Excuse  me,  Sir,  if  turning  from  such  thoughts  I  resume 
this  comparative  view  once  more.     You  have  seen  it  on  a 

20  large  scale ;  look  at  it  on  a  small  one.  I  will  point  out  to 
your  attention  a  particular  instance  of  it  in  the  single  prov 
ince  of  Pennsylvania.  In  the  year  1704,  that  province 
called  for  ,£11,459  in  value  of  your  commodities,  native 
and  foreign.  This  was  the  whole.  What  did  it  demand  in 

25  1772?  Why  nearly  fifty  times  as  much;  for  in  that  year 
the  export  to  Pennsylvania  was  .£507,909,  nearly  equal  to 
the  export  to  all  the  colonies  together  in  the  first  period. 

I  choose,  Sir,  to  enter  into  these  minute  and  particular 
details ;   because  generalities,  which  in  all  other  cases  are 

30  apt  to  heighten  and  raise  the  subject,  have  here  a  tendency 
to  sink  it.  When  we  speak  of  the  commerce  with  our  colo- 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  99 

nies,  fiction  lags  after   truth ;   invention  is   unfruitful,  and 
imagination  cold  and  barren. 

So  far,  Sir,  as  to  the  importance  of  the  object  in  view  of 
its  commerce,  as  concerned  in  the  exports  from  England. 
If  I  were  to  detail  the   imports,  I  could  show  how  many    5 
enjoyments  they  procure,  which  deceive  the  burthen  of  life  ; 
how  many  materials  which  invigorate  the  springs  of  national 
industry,  and  extend  and  animate  every  part  of  our  foreign 
and  domestic  commerce.     This  would  be  a  curious  subject 
indeed  —  but  I  must  prescribe  bounds  to  myself  in  a  matter  ia 
so  vast  and  various. 

I  pass  therefore  to  the  colonies  in  another  point  of  view, 
their  agriculture.  This  they  have  prosecuted  with  such  a 
spirit,  that,  besides  feeding  plentifully  their  own  growing 
multitude,  their  annual  export  of  grain,  comprehending  rice,  15 
has  some  years  ago  exceeded  a  million  in  value.  Of  their 
last  harvest,  I  am  persuaded  they  will  export  much  more. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  century  some  of  these  colonies 
imported  corn  from  the  mother  country.  For  some  time 
past,  the  Old  World  has  been  fed  from  the  New.  The  20 
scarcity  which  you  have  felt  would  have  been  a  desolating 
famine,  if  this  child  of  your  old  age,  with  a  true  filial  piety, 
with  a  Roman  charity,1  had  not  put  the  full  breast  of  its 
youthful  exuberance  to  the  mouth  of  its  exhausted  parent. 

As  to  the  wealth  which  the  colonies  have  drawn  from  the  25 
sea  by  their  fisheries,  you  had  all  that  matter  fully  opened  at 
your  bar.     You  surely  thought  these  acquisitions  of  value, 
for  they  seemed  even  to  excite  your  envy ;  and  yet  the  spirit 
by  which  that  enterprising  employment  has  been  exercised, 
ought  rather,  in  my  opinion,  to  have  raised  your  esteem  and  30 
admiration.     And  pray,  Sir/what  in  the  world  is  equal  to  it? 


100  ON   CONCILIATION    WITH  AMERICA. 

Pass  by  the  other'  parts,  and  look  at  the  manner  in  which 
the  people  of  New  England  have  of  late  carried  on  the  whale 
fishery.  Whilst  we  follow  them  among  the  tumbling  moun 
tains  of  ice,  and  behold  them  penetrating  into  the  deepest 

5  frozen  recesses  of  Hudson's  Bay  and  Davis's  Straits,  whilst 
we  are  looking  for  them  beneath  the  arctic  circle,  we  hear 
that  they  have  pierced  into  the  opposite  region  of  polar  cold, 
that  they  are  at  the  antipodes,  and  engaged  under  the  frozen 
serpent  of  the  south.1  Falkland  Island,2  which  seemed  too 

10  remote  and  romantic  an  object  for  the  grasp  of  national 
ambition,  is  but  a  stage  and  resting-place  in  the  progress  of 
their  victorious  industry.  Nor  is  the  equinoctial  heat  more 
discouraging  to  them,  than  the  accumulated  winter  of  both 
the  poles.  We  know  that  whilst  some  of  them  draw  the 

15  line  and  strike  the  harpoon  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  others  run 
the  longitude,  and  pursue  their  gigantic  game  along  the 
coast  of  Brazil.  No  sea  but  what  is  vexed  by  their  fisheries. 
No  climate  that  is  not  witness  to  their  toils.  Neither  the 
perseverance  of  Holland,  nor  the  activity  of  France,  nor  the 

20  dexterous  and  firm  sagacity  of  English  enterprise,  ever  car 
ried  this  most  perilous  mode  of  hard  industry  to  the  extent 
to  which  it  has  been  pushed  by  this  recent  people  ;  a  people 
who  are  still,  as  it  were,  but  in  the  gristle,  and  not  yet  hard 
ened  into  the  bone  of  manhood.  When  I  contemplate  these 

25  things ;  when  I  know  that  the  colonies  in  general  owe  little 
or  nothing  to  any  care  of  ours,  and  that  they  are  not  squeezed 
into  this  happy  form  by  the  constraints  of  watchful  and  sus 
picious  government,  but  that,  through  a  wise  and  salutary 
neglect,  a  generous  nature  has  been  suffered  to  take  her  own 

30  way  to  perfection  ;  when  I  reflect  upon  these  effects,  when  I 
see  how  profitable  they  have  been  to  us,  I  feel  all  the  pride 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  101 

of  power  sink,  and  all  presumption  in  the  wisdom  of  human 
contrivances  melt  and  die  away  within  me.  My  rigour 
relents.  I  pardon  something  to  the  spirit  of  liberty.1 

I  am  sensible,  Sir,  that  all  which  I  have  asserted  in  my 
detail,  is  admitted  in  the  gross ;  but  that  quite  a  different  5 
conclusion  is  drawn  from  it.  America,  gentlemen  say,  is  a 
noble  object.  It  is  an  object  well  worth  fighting  for.  Cer 
tainly  it  is,  if  fighting  a  people  be  the  best  way  of  gaining 
them.  Gentlemen  in  this  respect  will  be  led  to  their  choice 
of  means  by  their  complexions  and  their  habits.  Those  who  10 
understand  the  military  art,  will  of  course  have  some  pred 
ilection  for  it.  Those  who  wield  the  thunder  of  the  state, 
may  have  more  confidence  in  the  efficacy  of  arms.  But  I 
confess,  possibly  for  want  of  this  knowledge,  my  opinion  is 
much  more  in  favour  of  prudent  management,  than  of  force  ;  15 
considering  force  not  as  an  odious,  but  a  feeble  instrument, 
for  preserving  a  people  so  numerous,  so  active,  so  growing, 
so  spirited  as  this,  in  a  profitable  and  subordinate  connexion 
with  us. 

First,  Sir,  permit  me  to  observe,  that  the  use  of  force  20 
alone  is  but  temporary.     It  may  subdue  for  a  moment ;  but 
it  does  not  remove  the  necessity  of  subduing  again  :  and  a 
nation  is  not  governed,  which  is  perpetually  to   be  con 
quered. 

My   next   objection    is    its   uncertainty.      Terror   is   not  25 
always   the    effect    of  force;    and   an    armament  is  not  a 
victory.     If  you  do  not  succeed,  you  are  without  resource  ; 
for,  conciliation  failing,  force  remains ;    but,  force  failing, 
no  furthur  hope  of  reconciliation  is  left.     Power  and  author 
ity  are  sometimes  bought  by  kindness  ;  but  they  can  never  be  30 
begged  as  alms  by  an  impoverished  and  defeated  violence. 


102  ON   CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

A  further  objection  to  force  is,  that  you  impair  the  object 
by  your  very  endeavours  to  preserve  it.  The  thing  you 
fought  for  is  not  the  thing  which  you  recover ;  but  depre 
ciated,  sunk,  wasted,  and  consumed  in  the  contest.  Nothing 

5  less  will  content  me,  than  whole  America.  I  do  not  choose 
to  consume  its  strength  along  with  our  own ;  because  in  all 
parts  it  is  the  British  strength  that  I  consume.  I  do  not 
choose  to  be  caught  by  a  foreign  enemy  at  the  end  of  this 
exhausting  conflict ;  and  still  less  in  the  midst  of  it.  I  may 

10  escape  ;  but  I  can  make  no  insurance  against  such  an  event. 
Let  me  add,  that  I  do  not  choose  wholly  to  break  the 
American  spirit ;  because  it  is  the  spirit  that  has  made  the 
country. 

Lastly,  we  have  no  sort  of  experience  in  favour  of  force 

15  as  an  instrument  in  the  rule  of  our  colonies.  Their  growth 
and  their  utility  has  been  owing  to  methods  altogether 
different.  Our  ancient  indulgence  has  been  said  to  be 
pursued  to  a  fault.  It  may  be  so.  But  we  know  if  feeling 
is  evidence,  that  our  fault  was  more  tolerable  than  our 

20  attempt  to  mend  it ;  and  our  sin  far  more  salutary  than  our 
penitence. 

These,  Sir,  are  my  reasons  for  not  entertaining  that  high 
opinion  of  untried  force,  by  which  many  gentlemen,  for 
whose  sentiments  in  other  particulars  I  have  great  respect, 

25  seem  to  be  so  greatly  captivated.  But  there  is  still  behind 
a  third  consideration  concerning  this  object,  which  serves 
to  determine  my  opinion  on  the  sort  of  policy  which  ought 
to  be  pursued  in  the  management  of  America,  even  more 
than  its  population  and  its  commerce,  I  mean  its  temper  and 

30  character. 

In  this  character  of  the  Americans,  a  love  of  freedom  is 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  103 

the  predominating  feature  which  marks  and  distinguishes 
the  whole  :  and  as  an  ardent  is  always  a  jealous  affection, 
your  colonies  become  suspicious,  restive,  and  untractable, 
whenever  they  see  the  least  attempt  to  wrest  from  them  by 
force,  or  shuffle  from  them  by  chicane,  what  they  think  the  5 
only  advantage  worth  living  for.  This  fierce  spirit  of  liberty 
is  stronger  in  the  English  colonies  probably  than  in  any 
other  people  of  the  earth ;  and  this  from  a  great  variety  of 
powerful  causes ;  which,  to  understand  the  true  temper  of 
their  minds,  and  the  direction  which  this  spirit  takes,  it  will  10 
not  be  amiss  to  lay  open  somewhat  more  largely.1 

First,  the   people    of  the   colonies   are   descendants    of 
Englishmen.     England,  Sir,  is  a  nation,  which  still  I  hope 
respects,  and  formerly  adored,  her  freedom.     The  colonists 
emigrated  from  you  when  this  part  of  your  character  was   15 
most  predominant ;   and  they  took  this  bias  and  direction 
the  moment  they  parted  from  your  hands,     They  are  there 
fore  not  only  devoted  to  liberty,  but  to  liberty  according  to 
English  ideas,  and  on  English  principles.     Abstract  liberty, 
like  other  mere  abstractions,  is  not  to  be  found.     Liberty  20 
inheres   in   some    sensible    object ;    and   every   nation   has 
formed  to  itself  some  favourite  point,  which  by  way  of  emi 
nence   becomes  the  criterion  of  their  happiness.     It  hap 
pened,  you  know,  Sir,  that  the  great  contests  for  freedom 
in  this  country  were  from  the  earliest  times  chiefly  upon  the  25 
question  of  taxing.     Most  of  the  contests  in  the  ancient 
commonwealths  turned  primarily  on  the  right  of  election  of 
magistrates ;  or  on  the  balance  among  the  several  orders  of 
the  state.     The  question  of  money  was  not  with  them  so 
immediate.     But  in    England   it   was   otherwise.     On   this  30 
point  of  taxes  the  ablest  pens,  and  most  eloquent  tongues, 


104  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

have  been  exercised;  the  greatest  spirits  have  acted  and 
suffered.  In  order  to  give  the  fullest  satisfaction  concern 
ing  the  importance  of  this  point,  it  was  not  only  necessary 
for  those  who  in  argument  defended  the  excellence  of  the 

5  English  constitution,  to  insist  on  this  privilege  of  granting 
money  as  a  dry  point  of  fact,  and  to  prove,  that  the  right 
had  been  acknowledged  in  ancient  parchments,  and  blind 
usages,  to  reside  in  a  certain  body  called  a  House  of  Com 
mons.  They  went  much  farther ;  they  attempted  to  prove, 

10  and  they  succeeded,  that  in  theory  it  ought  to  be  so,  from 
the  particular  nature  of  a  House  of  Commons,  as  an  imme 
diate  representative  of  the  people  ;  whether  the  old  records 
had  delivered  this  oracle  or  not.  They  took  infinite  pains 
to  inculcate,  as  a  fundamental  principle,  that  in  all  mon- 

15  archies  the  people  must  in  effect  themselves,  mediately  or 
immediately,  possess  the  power  of  granting  their  own  money, 
or  no  shadow  of  liberty  could  subsist.  The  colonies  draw 
from  you,  as  with  their  life-blood,  these  ideas  and  principles. 
Their  love  of  liberty,  as  with  you,  fixed  and  attached  on 

20  this  specific  point  of  taxing.  Liberty  might  be  safe,  or 
might  be  endangered,  in  twenty  other  particulars,  without 
their  being  much  pleased  or  alarmed.  Here  they  felt  its 
pulse ;  and  as  they  found  that  beat,  they  thought  them 
selves  sick  or  sound.  I  do  not  say  whether  they  were  right 

25  or  wrong  in  applying  your  general  arguments  to  their  own 
case.  It  is  riot  easy  indeed  to  make  a  monopoly  of  theo 
rems  and  corollaries.  The  fact  is,  that  they  did  thus  apply 
those  general  arguments ;  and  your  mode  of  governing 
them,  whether  through  lenity  or  indolence,  through  wisdom 

30  or  mistake,  confirmed  them  in  the  imagination,  that  they,  as 
well  as  you,  had  an  interest  in  these  common  principles. 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  105 

They  were  further  confirmed  in  this  pleasing  error  by  the 
form  of  their  provincial  legislative  assemblies.  Their  gov 
ernments  are  popular  in  a  high  degree;  some  are  merely 
popular;  in  all,  the  popular  representative  is  the  most 
weighty ;  and  this  share  of  the  people  in  their  ordinary  gov-  5 
eminent  never  fails  to  inspire  them  with  lofty  sentiments, 
and  with  a  strong  aversion  from  whatever  tends  to  deprive 
them  of  their  chief  importance. 

If  anything  were  wanting  to  this  necessary  operation  of 
the  form  of  government,  religion  would  have  given  it  a  com-   10 
plete  effect.     Religion,  always  a  principle  of  energy,  in  this 
new  people  is  no  way  worn  out  or  impaired ;  and  their  mode 
of  professing  it  is  also  one  main  cause  of  this  free  spirit. 
The  people  are  Protestants ;  and  of  that  kind  which  is  the 
most  adverse  to  all  implicit  submission  of  mind  and  opinion.   15 
This  is  a  persuasion  not  only  favourable  to  liberty,  but  built 
upon  it.     I  do  not  think,  Sir,  that  the  reason  of  this  averse- 
ness  in  the  dissenting  churches,  from  all  that  looks  like  abso 
lute  government,  is  so  much  to  be  sought  in  their  religious 
tenets,    as   in   their   history.     Every   one   knows   that   the  20 
Roman  Catholic  religion  is  at  least  coeval  with  most  of  the 
governments  where  it  prevails ;  that  it  has  generally  gone 
hand  in  hand  with  them,  and   received  great  favour  and 
every  kind  of  support  from  authority.     The  Church  of  Eng 
land  too  was  formed  from  her  cradle  under  the  nursing  care  25 
of  regular  government.     But  the  dissenting  interests  have 
sprung  up  in  direct  opposition  to  all  the  ordinary  powers  of 
the  world  ;  and  could  justify  that  opposition  only  on  a  strong 
claim  to  natural  liberty.     Their  very  existence  depended  on 
the  powerful  and  unremitted  assertion  of  that  claim.     All  30 
Protestantism,  even  the  most  cold  and  passive,  is  a  sort  of 


106  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

dissent.  But  the  religion  most  prevalent  in  our  northern 
colonies  is  a  refinement  on  the  principle  of  resistance;  it  is 
the  dissidence  of  dissent,  and  the  Protestantism  of  the  Pro 
testant  religion.1  This  religion,  under  a  variety  of  denomi- 

5  nations  agreeing  in  nothing  but  in  the  communion  of  the 
spirit  of  liberty,  is  predominant  in  most  of  the  northern  prov 
inces;  where  the  Church  of  England,  notwithstanding  its 
legal  rights,  is  in  reality  no  more  than  a  sort  of  private  sect, 
not  composing  most  probably  the  tenth  of  the  people.  The 

10  colonists  left  England  when  this  spirit  was  high,  and  in  the 
emigrants  was  the  highest  of  all ;  and  even  that  stream  of 
foreigners,  which  has  been  constantly  flowing  into  these 
colonies,  has,  for  the  greatest  part,  been  composed  of  dis 
senters  from  the  establishments  of  their  several  countries, 

15  and  have  brought  with  them  a  temper  and  character  far 
from  alien  to  that  of  the  people  with  whom  they  mixed. 

Sir,  I  can  perceive  by  their  manner,  that  some  gentlemen 
object  to  the  latitude  of  this  description ;  because  in  the 
southern  colonies  the  Church  of  England  forms  a  large  body, 

20  and  has  a  regular  establishment.  It  is  certainly  true.  There 
is,  however,  a  circumstance  attending  these  colonies,  which, 
in  my  opinion,  fully  counterbalances  this  difference,  and 
makes  the  spirit  of  liberty  still  more  high  and  haughty  than 
in  those  to  the  northward.  It  is,  that  in  Virginia  and  the 

25  Carolinas  they  have  a  vast  multitude  of  slaves.  Where  this 
is  the  case  in  any  part  of  the  world,  those  who  are  free,  are 
by  far  the  most  proud  and  jealous  of  their  freedom.  Free 
dom  is  to  them  not  only  an  enjoyment,  but  a  kind  of  rank 
and  privilege.  Not  seeing  there,  that  freedom,  as  in  coun- 

30  tries  where  it  is  a  common  blessing,  and  as  broad  and  gen 
eral  as  the  air,  may  be  united  with  much  abject  toil,  with 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  107 

great  misery,  with  all  the  exterior  of  servitude,  liberty  looks, 
amongst  them,  like  something  that  is  more  noble  and  liberal. 
I  do  not  mean,  Sir,  to  commend  the  superior  morality  of  this 
sentiment,  which  has  at  least  as  much  pride  as  virtue  in  it ; 
but  I  cannot  alter  the  nature  of  man.  The  fact  is  so  ;  and  5 
these  people  of  the  southern  colonies  are  much  more  strongly, 
and  with  a  higher  and  more  stubborn  spirit,  attached  to  lib 
erty,  than  those  to  the  northward.  Such  were  all  the  ancient 
commonwealths ;  such  were  our  Gothic  ancestors ;  such  in 
our  days  were  the  Poles;1  and  such  will  be  all  masters  of  10 
slaves,  who  are  not  slaves  themselves.  In  such  a  people, 
the  haughtiness  of  domination  combines  with  the  spirit  of 
freedom,  fortifies  it,  and  renders  it  invincible. 

Permit  me,  Sir,  to  add  another  circumstance  in  our  colo 
nies,  which  contributes  no  mean  part  towards  the  growth  15 
and  effect  of  this  untractable  spirit.    I  mean  their  education. 
In  no  country  perhaps  in  the  world  is  the  law  so  general  a 
study.2    The  profession  itself  is  numerous  and  powerful ;  and 
in  most  provinces  it  takes  the  lead.     The  greater  number  of 
the  deputies  sent  to  the  congress  were  lawyers.    But  all  who  20 
read,  and  most  do  read,  endeavour  to  obtain  some  smat 
tering  in  that   science.     I  have  been  told  by  an  eminent 
bookseller,  that  in  no  branch  of  his  business,  after  tracts  of 
popular  devotion,  were  so  many  books  as  those  on  the  law 
exported  to  the  plantations.     The  colonists  have  now  fallen  25 
into  the  way  of  printing  them  for  their  own  use.     I  hear 
that  they  have  sold  nearly  as  many  of  Blackstone's  Com 
mentaries  in  America  as  in  England.     General  Gage  marks 
out  this   disposition  very  particularly  in  a  letter  on  your 
table.     He  states,  that  all  the  people  in  his  government  are  30 
lawyers,  or  smatterers  in  law ;.  and  that  in  Boston  they  have 


108  ON  CONCILIATION    WITH  AMERICA. 

been  enabled,  by  successful  chicane,  wholly  to  evade  many 
parts  of  one  of  your  capital  penal  constitutions.1  The  smart 
ness  of  debate  will  say,  that  this  knowledge  ought  to  teach 
them  more  clearly  the  rights  of  legislature,  their  obligations 

5  to  obedience,  and  the  penalties  of  rebellion.  All  this  is 
mighty  well.  But  my  honourable  and  learned  friend2  on  the 
floor,  who  condescends  to  mark  what  I  say  for  animadversion, 
will  disdain  that  ground.  He  has  heard,  as  well  as  I,  that 
when  great  honours  and  great  emoluments  do  not  win  over 

10  this  knowledge  to  the  service  of  the  state,  it  is  a  formidable 
adversary  to  government.  If  the  spirit  be  not  tamed  and 
broken  by  these  happy  methods,  it  is  stubborn  and  litigious. 
Abeunt  studia  in  mores?  This  study  renders  men  acute,  in 
quisitive,  dexterous,  prompt  in  attack,  ready  in  defence,  full 

15  of  resources.  In  other  countries,  the  people,  more  simple, 
and  of  a  less  mercurial  cast,  judge  of  an  ill  principle  in  gov 
ernment  only  by  an  actual  grievance ;  here  they  anticipate 
the  evil,  and  judge  of  the  pressure  of  the  grievance  by  the 
badness  of  the  principle.  They  augur  misgovernment  at  a 

20  distance  j  and  snuff  the  approach  of  tyranny  in  every  tainted 
breeze. 

The  last  cause  of  this  disobedient  spirit  in  the  colonies  is 
hardly  less  powerful  than  the  rest,  as  it  is  not  merely  moral, 
but  laid  deep  in  the  natural  constitution  of  things.  Three 

25  thousand  miles  of  ocean  lie  between  you  and  them.  No  con 
trivance  can  prevent  the  effect  of  this  distance  in  weakening 
government.  Seas  roll,  and  months  pass,  between  the  order 
and  the  execution ;  and  the  want  of  a  speedy  explanation  of 
a  single  point  is  enough  to  defeat  a  whole  system.  You 

30  have,  indeed,  winged  ministers  of  vengeance,4  who  carry  your 
bolts  in  their  pounces  to  the  remotest  verge  of  the  sea.  But 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  109 

there  a  power  steps  in,  that  limits  the  arrogance  of  raging 
passions  and  furious  elements,  and  says,  "  So  far  shalt  thou 
go,  and  no  farther."  Who  are  you,  that  should  fret  and 
rage,  and  bite  the  chains  of  nature  ? —  Nothing  worse  happens 
to  you  than  does  to  all  nations  who  have  extensive  empire  ;  5 
and  it  happens  in  all  the  forms  into  which  empire  can  be 
thrown.  In  large  bodies,  the  circulation  of  power  must  be 
less  vigourous  at  the  extremities.  Nature  has  said  it.  The 
Turk  cannot  govern  Egypt,  and  Arabia,  and  Curdistan,  as  he 
governs  Thrace ;  nor  has  he  the  same  dominion  in  Crimea  10 
and  Algiers,  which  he  has  at  Brusa  and  Smyrna.  Despotism 
itself  is  obliged  to  truck  and  huckster.  The  Sultan  gets  such 
obedience  as  he  can.  He  governs  with  a  loose  rein,  that  he 
may  govern  at  all ;  and  the  whole  of  the  force  and  vigour  of 
his  authority  in  his  centre  is  derived  from  a  prudent  relaxa-  15 
tion  in  all  his  borders.  Spain,  in  her  provinces,  is,  perhaps, 
not  so  well  obeyed  as  you  are  in  yours.  She  complies  too ; 
she  submits ;  she  watches  times.  This  is  the  immutable 
condition,  the  eternal  law,  of  extensive  and  detached  empire.1 

Then,  Sir,  from  these  six  capital  sources;  of  descent;  of  20 
form  of  government ;  of  religion  in  the  northern  provinces  ; 
of  manners  in  the  southern ;  of  education ;  of  the  remote 
ness  of  situation  from  the  first  mover  of  government ;  from 
all  these  causes  a  fierce  spirit  of  liberty  has  grown  up.  It 
has  grown  with  the  growth  of  the  people  in  your  colonies,  25 
and  increased  with  the  increase  of  their  wealth;  a  spirit, 
that  unhappily  meeting  with  an  exercise  of  power  in  England, 
which,  however  lawful,  is  not  reconcilable  to  any  ideas  of 
liberty,  much  less  with  theirs,  has  kindled  this  flame  that  is 
ready  to  consume  us.  30 

I  do  not  mean  to  commend  either  the  spirit  in  this  excess, 


110  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

or  the  moral  causes  which  produce  it.  Perhaps  a  more 
smooth  and  accommodating  spirit  of  freedom  in  them  would 
be  more  acceptable  to  us.  Perhaps  ideas  of  liberty  might  be 
desired,  more  reconcilable  with  an  arbitrary  and  boundless 

5  authority.  Perhaps  we  might  wish  the  colonists  to  be  per 
suaded,  that  their  liberty  is  more  secure  when  held  in  trust 
for  them  by  us  (as  their  guardians  during  a  perpetual  minor 
ity)  than  with  any  part  of  it  in  their  own  hands.  The  ques 
tion  is,  not  whether  their  spirit  deserves  praise  or  blame, 

10  but — what,  in  the  name  of  God,  shall  we  do  with  it?  You 
have  before  you  the  object,  such  as  it  is,  with  all  its  glories, 
with  all  its  imperfections  on  its  head.1  You  see  the  magni 
tude  ;  the  importance ;  the  temper ;  the  habits ;  the  dis 
orders.  By  all  these  considerations  we  are  strongly  urged 

15  to  determine  something  concerning  it.  We  are  called  upon 
to  fix  some  rule  and  line  for  our  future  conduct,  which  may 
give  a  little  stability  to  our  politics,  and  prevent  the  return 
of  such  unhappy  deliberations  as  the  present.  Every  such 
return  will  bring  the  matter  before  us  in  a  still  more  un- 

20  tractable  form.  For,  what  astonishing  and  incredible  things 
have  we  not  seen  already  !  What  monsters  have  not  been 
generated  from  this  unnatural  contention  !  Whilst  every 
principal  of  authority  and  resistance  has  been  pushed,  upon 
both  sides,  as  far  as  it  would  go,  there  is  nothing  so  solid 

25  and  certain,  either  in  reasoning  or  in  practice,  that  has  not 
been  shaken.  Until  very  lately,  all  authority  in  America 
seemed  to  be  nothing  but  an  emanation  from  yours.  Even 
the  popular  part  of  the  colony  constitution  derived  all  its 
activity,  and  its  first  vital  movement,  from  the  pleasure  of 

30  the  crown.  We  thought,  Sir,  that  the  utmost  which  the  dis 
contented  colonists  could  do,  was  to  disturb  authority ;  we 


ON  CONCILIATION    WITH  AMERICA.  Ill 

never  dreamt  they  could  of  themselves  supply  it ;  knowing 
in  general  what  an  operose  business  it  is  to  establish  a  gov 
ernment  absolutely  new.  But  having,  for  our  purposes  in 
this  contention,  resolved,  that  none  but  an  obedient  assem 
bly  should  sit ;  the  humours  of  the  people  there,  finding  all  5 
passage  through  the  legal  channel  stopped,  with  great  vio 
lence  broke  out  another  way.  Some  provinces  have  tried 
their  experiment,  as  we  have  tried  ours ;  and  theirs  has  suc 
ceeded.  They  have  formed  a  government  sufficient  for  its 
purposes,  without  the  bustle  of  a  revolution,  or  the  trouble-  10 
some  formality  of  an  election.  Evident  necessity,  and  tacit 
consent,  have  done  the  business  in  an  instant.  So  well  they 
have  done  it,  that  Lord  Dunmore  (the  account  is  among  the 
fragments  on  your  table)  tells  you,  that  the  new  institution 
is  infinitely  better  obeyed  than  the  ancient  government  ever  15 
was  in  its  most  fortunate  periods.  Obedience  is  what  makes 
government,  and  not  the  names  by  which  it  is  called ;  not 
the  name  of  governor,  as  formerly,  or  committee,  as  at  pres 
ent.  This  new  government  has  originated  directly  from  the 
people  ;  and  was  not  transmitted  through  any  of  the  ordinary  20 
artificial  media  of  a  positive  constitution.  It  was  not  a  manu 
facture  ready  formed,  and  transmitted  to  them  in  that  con 
dition  from  England.  The  evil  arising  from  hence  is  this ; 
that  the  colonists  having  once  found  the  possibility  of  enjoy 
ing  the  advantages  of  order  in  the  midst  of  a  struggle  for  25 
liberty,  such  struggles  will  not  henceforward  seem  so  terrible 
to  the  settled  and  sober  part  of  mankind  as  they  had  appeared 
before  the  trial. 

Pursuing  the  same  plan  of  punishing  by  the  denial  of  the 
exercise  of  government  to  still  greater  lengths,  we  wholly  30 
abrogated  the  ancient  government  of  Massachusetts.      We 


112  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

'  were  confident  that  the  first  feeling,  if  not  the  very  prospect 
of  anarchy,  would  instantly  enforce  a  complete  submission. 
The  experiment  was  tried.  A  new,  strange,  unexpected 
face  of  things  appeared.  Anarchy  is  found  tolerable.  A 

5  vast  province  has  now  subsisted,  and  subsisted  in  a  consid 
erable  degree  of  health  and  vigour,  for  near  a  twelvemonth, 
without  governor,  without  public  council,  without  judges, 
without  executive  magistrates.  How  long  it  will  continue 
in  this  state,  or  what  may  arise  out  of  this  unheard-of  situa- 

10  tion,  how  can  the  wisest  of  us  conjecture?  Our  late  ex 
perience  has  taught  us  that  many  of  these  fundamental 
principles,  formerly  believed  infallible,  are  either  not  of  the 
importance  they  were  imagined  to  be  ;  or  that  we  have  not 
at  all  adverted  to  some  other  far  more  important  and  far 

15  more  powerful  principles,  which  entirely  overrule  those  we 
had  considered  as  omnipotent.  I  am  much  against  any 
further  experiments,  which  tend  to  put  to  the  proof  any 
more  of  these  allowed  opinions,  which -contribute  so  much  to 
the  public  tranquillity.  In  effect,  we  suffer  as  much  at  home 

20  by  this  loosening  of  all  ties,  and  this  concussion  of  all  estab 
lished  opinions,  as  we  do  abroad.  For,  in  order  to  prove 
that  the  Americans  have  no  right  to  their  liberties,  we  are 
every  day  endeavouring  to  subvert  the  maxims  which  preserve 
the  whole  spirit  of  our  own.  To  prove  that  the  Americans 

25  ought  not  to  be  free,  we  are  obliged  to  depreciate  the  value 
of  freedom  itself;  and  we  never  seem  to  gain  a  paltry  ad 
vantage  over  them  in  debate,  without  attacking  some  of  those 
principles,  or  deriding  some  of  those  feelings,  for  which  our 
ancestors  have  shed  their  blood. 

3o  But,  Sir,  in  wishing  to  put  an  end  to  pernicious  experi 
ments,  I  do  not  mean  to  preclude  the  fullest  inquiry.  Far 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  113 

from  it.     Far  from  deciding  on  a  sudden  or  partial  view,  I 
would  patiently  go  round  and  round  the  subject,  and  survey 
it  minutely  in  every  possible  aspect.     Sir,  if  I  were  capable     . 
of  engaging  you  to  an  equal  attention,  I  would  state,  that,  as 
far  as  I  am  capable  of  discerning,  there  are  but  three  ways    5 
of  proceeding  relative  to  this  stubborn  spirit,  which  prevails 
in  your  colonies,  and  disturbs  your  government.     These  are 
—  To  change  that  spirit,  as  inconvenient,  by  removing  the 
causes.     To  prosecute  it  as  criminal.     Or,  to  comply  with  it 
as  necessary.     I  would  not  be  guilty  of  an  imperfect  enum-   10 
eration ;  I  can  think  of  but  these  three.    Another  has  indeed 
been  started,  that  of  giving  up  the  colonies ;  but  it  met  so 
slight  a  reception,  that   I  do  not  think  myself  obliged  to 
dwell  a  great  while  upon  it.     It  is  nothing  but  a  little  sally 
of  anger,  like  the  frowardness  of  peevish  children,  who,  when  15 
they  cannot  get  all  they  would  have,  are  resolved  to  take 
nothing. 

The  first  of  these  plans,  to  change  the  spirit  as  incon 
venient,  by  removing  the  causes,  I  think  is  the  most  like  a 
systematic  proceeding.  It  is  radical  in  its  principle ;  but  it  20 
is  attended  with  great  difficulties,  some  of  them  little  short, 
as  I  conceive,  of  impossibilities.  This  will  appear  by  ex 
amining  into  the  plans  which  have  been  proposed. 

As  the  growing  population  in  the  colonies  is  evidently  one 
cause  of  their  resistance,  it  was  last  session  mentioned  in  both  25 
Houses,  by  men  of  weight,  and  received  not  without  applause, 
that  in  order  to  check  this  evil,  it  would  be  proper  for  the 
crown  to  make  no  further  grants  of  land.    But  to  this  scheme 
there  are  two  objections.     The  first,  that  there  is  already  so 
much  unsettled  land  in  private  hands,  as  to  afford  room  for  30 
an  immense  future  population,  although  the  crown  not  only 


114  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

withheld  its  grants,  but  annihilated  its  soil.  If  this  be  the 
case,  then  the  only  effect  of  this  avarice  of  desolation,  this 
hoarding  of  a  royal  wilderness,  would  be  to  raise  the  value 
of  the  possessions  in  the  hands  of  the  great  private  monop- 

5  olists,  without  any  adequate  check  to  the  growing  and 
alarming  mischief  of  population. 

But  if  you  stopped  your  grants,  what  would  be  the  conse 
quence  ?  The  people  would  occupy  without  grants.  They 
have  already  so  occupied  in  many  places.  You  cannot 

10  station  garrisons  in  every  part  of  these  deserts.  If  you 
drive  the  people  from  one  place,  they  will  carry  on  their 
annual  tillage,  and  remove  with  their  flocks  and  herds  to 
another,  Many  of  the  people  in  the  back  settlements  are 
already  little  attached  to  particular  situations.  Already  they 

15  have  topped  the  Appalachian  mountains.  From  thence  they 
behold  before  them  an  immense  plain,  one  vast,  rich,  level 
meadow ;  a  square  of  five  hundred  miles.  Over  this  they 
would  wander  without  a  possibility  of  restraint ;  they  world 
change  their  manners  with  the  habits  of  their  life ;  would 

20  soon  forget  a  government  by  which  they  were  disowned ; 
would  become  hordes  of  English  Tartars;  and  pouring 
down  upon  your  unfortified  frontiers  a  fierce  and  irresistible 
cavalry,  become  masters  of  your  governors  and  your  coun 
sellors,  your  collectors  and  comptrollers,  and  of  all  the  slaves 

25  that  adhered  to  them.  Such  would,  and,  in  no  long  time, 
must  be,  the  effect  of  attempting  to  forbid  as  a  crime,  and  to 
suppress  as  an  evil,  the  command  and  blessing  of  Providence, 
"  Increase  and  multiply."  Such  would  be  the  happy  result 
of  an  endeavour  to  keep  as  a  lair  of  wild  beasts,  that  earth, 

30  which  God,  by  an  express  charter,  has  given  to  the  children 
of  men.  Far  different,  and  surely  much  wiser,  has  been  our 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  115 

policy  hitherto.  Hitherto  we  have  invited  our  people,  by 
every  kind  of  bounty,  to  fixed  establishments.  We  have  in 
vited  the  husbandman  to  look  to  authority  for  his  title.  We 
have  taught  him  piously  to  believe  in  the  mysterious  virtue 
of  wax  and  parchment.  We  have  thrown  each  tract  of  land,  5 
as  it  was  peopled,  into  districts  ;  that  the  ruling  power  should 
never  be  wholly  out  of  sight.  We  have  settled  all  we  could ; 
and  we  have  carefully  attended  every  settlement  with  gov 
ernment. 

Adhering,  Sir,  as  I  do,  to  this  policy,  as  well  as  for  the  10 
reasons  I  have  just  given,  I  think  this  new  project  of  hedg- 
ing-in  population  to  be  neither  prudent  nor  practicable. 

To  impoverish  the  colonies  in  general,  and  in  particular  to 
arrest  the  noble  course  of  their  marine  enterprises,  would  be 
a  more  easy  task.     I  freely  confess  it.     We  have  shown  a  15 
disposition  to  a  system  of  this  kind ;  a  disposition  even  to 
continue  the  restraint  after  the  offence  ;  looking  on  ourselves 
as  rivals  to  our  colonies,  and  persuaded  that  of  course  we 
must  gain  all  that  they  shall  lose.     Much  mischief  we  may 
certainly  do.     The  power  inadequate  to  all  other  things  is  20 
often  more  than  sufficient  for  this.     I  do  not  look  on  the 
direct  and  immediate  power  of  the  colonies  to  resist  our 
violence  as  very  formidable.     In  this,  however,  I  may  be 
mistaken.     But  when  I  consider,  that  we  have  colonies  for 
no  purpose  but  to  be  serviceable  to  us,  it  seems  to  my  poor  25 
understanding  a  little  preposterous,  to  make  them  unservice 
able,  in  order  to  keep  them  obedient.     It  is,  in  truth,  noth 
ing  more  than  the  old,  and,  as  I  thought,  exploded  problem 
of  tyranny,  which  proposes  to  beggar  its  subjects  into  sub 
mission.     But  remember,  when  you  have  completed  your  30 
system  of  impoverishment,  that  nature  still  proceeds  in  her 


116  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

ordinary  course  ;  that  discontent  will  increase  with  misery ; 
and  that  there  are  critical  moments  in  the  fortune  of  all 
states,  when  they  who  are  too  weak  to  contribute  to  your 
prosperity,  may  be  strong  enough  to  complete  your  ruin. 

5    Spoliatis  arma  supersunt} 

The  temper  and  character  which  prevail  in  our  colonies 
are,  I  am  afraid,  unalterable  by  any  human  art.  We  cannot, 
I  fear,  falsify  the  pedigree  of  this  fierce  people,  and  persuade 
them  that  they  are  not  sprung  from  a  nation  in  whose  veins 

10  the  blood  of  freedom  circulates.  The  language  in  which 
they  would  hear  you  tell  them  this  tale  would  detect  the  im 
position  ;  your  speech  would  betray  you.  An  Englishman 
is  the  unfittest  person  on  earth  to  argue  another  Englishman 
into  slavery. 

15  I  think  it  is  nearly  as  little  in  our  power  to  change  their 
republican  religion,  as  their  free  descent ;  or  to  substitute 
the  Roman  Catholic,  as  a  penalty ;  or  the  Church  of  England, 
as  an  improvement.  The  mode  of  inquisition  and  dragoon 
ing  is  going  out  of  fashion  in  the  Old  World ;  and  I  should 

20  not  confide  much  to  their  efficacy  in  the  New.  The  edu 
cation  of  the  Americans  is  also  on  the  same  unalterable 
bottom  with  their  religion.  You  cannot  persuade  them  to 
burn  their  books  of  curious  science ;  to  banish  their  lawyers 
from  their  courts  of  laws ;  or  to  quench  the  lights  of  their 

25  assemblies,  by  refusing  to  choose  those  persons  who  are  best 
read  in  their  privileges.  It  would  be  no  less  impracticable  to 
think  of  wholly  annihilating  the  popular  assemblies,  in  which 
these  lawyers  sit.  The  army,  by  which  we  must  govern  in 
their  place,  would  be  far  more  chargeable  to  us ;  not  quite 

3o  so  effectual ;  and  perhaps,  in  the  end,  full  as  difficult  to  be 
kept  in  obedience.2 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  117 

With  regard  to  the  high  aristocratic  spirit  of  Virginia  and 
the  southern  colonies,  it  has  been  proposed,  I  know,  to  re 
duce  it,  by  declaring  a  general  enfranchisement  of  their 
slaves.  This  project  has  had  its  advocates  and  panegyrists ; 
yet  I  never  could  argue  myself  into  any  opinion  of  it.  Slaves  5 
are  often  much  attached  to  their  masters.  A  general  wild 
offer  of  liberty  would  not  always  be  accepted.  History  fur 
nishes  few  instances  of  it.  It  is  sometimes  as  hard  to  per 
suade  slaves  to  be  free,  as  it  is  to  compel  freemen  to  be  slaves  ; 
and  in  this  auspicious  scheme,  we  should  have  both  these  10 
pleasing  tasks  on  our  hands  at  once.  But  when  we  talk  of 
enfranchisement,  do  we  not  perceive  that  the  American 
master  may  enfranchise  too ;  and  arm  servile  hands  in  de 
fence  of  freedom  ?  A  measure  to  which  other  people  have 
had  recourse  more  than  once,  and  not  without  success,  in  a  15 
desperate  situation  of  their  affairs. 

Slaves  as  these  unfortunate  black  people  are,  and  dull  as 
all  men  are  from  slavery,  must  they  not  a  little  suspect  the 
offer  of  freedom  from  that  very  nation  which  has  sold  them 
to  their  present  masters?  from  that  nation,  one  of  whose  20 
causes  of  quarrel  with  those  masters  is  their  refusal  to  deal 
any  more  in  that  inhuman  traffic?  An  offer  of  freedom  from 
England  would  come  rather  oddly,  shipped  to  them  in  an 
African  vessel,  which  is  refused  an  entry  into  the  ports  of 
Virginia  or  Carolina,  with  a  cargo  of  three  Angola  negroes.  25 
It  would  be  curious  to  see  the  Guinea  captain  attempting  at 
the  same  instant  to  publish  his  proclamation  of  liberty,  and 
to  advertise  his  sale  of  slaves. 

But  let  us  suppose  all  these  moral  difficulties  got  over. 
The  ocean  remains.     You  cannot  pump  this  dry;    and  as  30 
long  as  it  continues  in  its  present  bed,  so  long  all  the  causes 


118  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

which  weaken  authority  by  distance  will  continue.  "  Ye  gods, 
annihilate  but  space  and  time,  and  make  two  lovers  happy  !  nl 
—  was  a  pious  and  passionate  prayer ;  —  but  just  as  reason 
able,  as  many  of  the  serious  wishes  of  very  grave  and  solemn 

5     politicians. 

If  then,  Sir,  it  seems  almost  desperate  to  think  of  any 
alterative  course,  for  changing  the  moral  causes  (and  not 
quite  easy  to  remove  the  natural)  which  produce  prejudices 
irreconcilable  to  the  late  exercise  of  our  authority ;  but  that 

10  the  spirit  infallibly  will  continue ;  and,  continuing,  will  pro 
duce  such  effects  as  now  embarrass  us ;  the  second  mode 
under  consideration  is,  to  prosecute  that  spirit  in  its  overt 
acts,  as  criminal. 

At  this  proposition  I  must  pause  a  moment.     The  thing 

15  seems  a  great  deal  too  big  for  my  ideas  of  jurisprudence. 
It  should  seem  to  my  way  of  conceiving  such  matters,  that 
there  is  a  very  wide  difference  in  reason  and  policy,  between 
the  mode  of  proceeding  on  their  regular  conduct  of  scattered 
individuals,  or  even  of  bands  of  men,  who  disturb  order 

20  within  the  state,  and  the  civil  dissensions  which  may,  from 
time  to  time,  on  great  questions,  agitate  the  several  commu 
nities  which  compose  a  great  empire.  It  looks  to  me  to  be 
narrow  and  pedantic,  to  apply  the  ordinary  ideas  of  criminal 
justice  to  this  great  public  contest.  I  do  not  know  the 

25  method  of  drawing  up  an  indictment  against  a  whole  people. 
I  cannot  insult  and  ridicule  the  feelings  of  millions  of  my 
fellow-creatures,  as  Sir  Edward  Coke  insulted  one  excellent 
individual  (Sir  Walter  Raleigh)  at  the  bar.2  I  hope  I  am 
not  ripe  to  pass  sentence  on  the  gravest  public  bodies, 

3o  intrusted  with  magistracies  of  great  authority  and  dignity, 
and  charged  with  the  safety  of  their  fellow-citizens,  upon  the 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  119 

very  same  title  that  I  am.  I  really  think,  that  for  wise  men 
this  is  not  judicious  ;  for  sober  men,  not  decent ;  for  minds 
tinctured  with  humanity,  not  mild  and  merciful. 

Perhaps,  Sir,  I  am  mistaken  in  my  idea  of  an  empire,  as 
distinguished  from  a  single  state  or  kingdom.     But  my  idea    5 
of  it  is  this ;  that  an  empire  is  the  aggregate  of  many  states 
under  one  common  head ;  whether  this  head  be  a  monarch, 
or  a  presiding  republic.     It  does,  in  such  constitutions,  fre 
quently  happen   (and  nothing  but  the  dismal,  cold,  dead 
uniformity  of  servitude  can  prevent  its  happening)  that  the   10 
subordinate  parts  may  have  many  local  privileges  and  immu 
nities.     Between  these  privileges  and  the  supreme  common 
authority  the  line  may  be  extremely  nice.    Of  course  disputes, 
often,  too,  very  bitter  disputes,  and  much  ill  blood,  will  arise. 
But  though  every  privilege  is  an  exemption  (in  the  case)  from  15 
the  ordinary  exercise  of  the  supreme  authority,  it  is  no  denial 
of  it.     The  claim  of  a  privilege  seems  rather,  ex  m  termini}- 
to  imply  a  superior  power.     For  to  talk  of  the  privileges  of 
a  state,  or  of  a  person,  who  has  no  superior,  is  hardly  any 
better  than  speaking  nonsense.     Now,  in  such  unfortunate  20 
quarrels  among  the  component  parts  of  a  great  political 
union   of  communities,   I  can    scarcely  conceive   anything 
more  completely  imprudent,  than  for  the  head  of  the  empire 
to  insist,  that,  if  any  privilege  is  pleaded  against  his  will,  or 
his  acts,  his  whole,  authority  is  denied ;  instantly  to  proclaim  25 
rebellion,  to  beat  to,  arms,  and  to  put  the  offending  provinces 
under  the  ban.     Will  not  this,  Sir,  very  soon  teach  the  prov 
inces  to  make  no  distinctions  on  their  part?     Will  it  not 
teach  them  that  the  government,  against  which  a  claim  of 
liberty  is  tantamount  to  high  treason,  is  a  government  to  30 
which  submission  is  equivalent   to    slavery?      It  may  not 


120  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

always  be  quite  convenient  to  impress  dependent  communi 
ties  with  such  an  idea. 

We  are  indeed,  in  all  disputes  with  the  colonies,  by  the 
necessity  of  things,  the  judge.  It  is  true,  Sir.  But  I  con- 

5  fess,  that  the  character  of  judge  in  my  own  cause  is  a  thing 
that  frightens  me.  Instead  of  filling  .me  with  pride,  I  am 
exceedingly  humbled  by  it.  I  cannot  proceed  with  a  stern, 
assured,  judicial  confidence,  until  I  find  myself  in  something 
more  like  a  judicial  character.  I  must  have  these  hesita- 

10  tions  as  long  as  I  am  compelled  to  recollect,  that,  in  my  lit 
tle  reading  upon  such  contests  as  these,  the  sense  of  man 
kind  has,  at  least,  as  often  decided  against  the  superior  as 
the  subordinate  power.  Sir,  let  me  add  too,  that  the  opinion 
of  my  having  some  abstract  right  in  my  favour,  would  not 

15  put  me  much  at  my  ease  in  passing  sentence;  unless  I  could 
be  sure,  that  there  were  no  rights  which,  in  their  exercise 
under  certain  circumstances,  were  not  the  most  odious  of  all 
wrongs,  and  the  most  vexatious  of  all  injustice.  Sir,  these 
considerations  have  great  weight  with  me,  when  I  find  things 

20  so  circumstanced,  that  I  see  the  same  party,  at  once  a  civil 
litigant  against  me  in  point  of  right,  and  a  culprit  before  me  ; 
while  I  sit  as  a  criminal  judge,  on  acts  of  his,  whose  moral 
quality  is  to  be  decided  upon  the  merits  of  that  very  litiga 
tion.  Men  are  every  now  and  then  put,  by  the  complexity 

25  of  human  affairs,  into  strange  situations ;  but  justice  is  the 
same,  let  the  judge  be  in  what  situation  he  will. 

There  is,  Sir,  also  a  circumstance  which  convinces  me, 
that  this  mode  of  criminal  proceeding  is  not  (at  least  in  the 
present  stage  of  our  contest)  altogether  expedient ;  which  is 

30  nothing  less  than  the  conduct  of  those  very  persons  who 
have  seemed  to  adopt  that  mode,  by  lately  declaring  a 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  121 

rebellion  in  Massachusetts  Bay,  as  they  had  formerly  ad 
dressed  to  have  traitors  brought  hither,  under  an  act  of 
Henry  the  Eighth,  for  trial.  For  though  rebellion  is  de 
clared,  it  is  not  proceeded  against  as  such ;  nor  have  any 
steps  been  taken  towards  the  apprehension  or  conviction  of  5 
any  individual  offender,  either  on  our  late  or  our  former 
address ;  but  modes  of  public  coercion  have  been  adopted, 
and  such  as  have  much  more  resemblance  to  a  sort  of  quali 
fied  hostility  towards  an  independent  power  than  the  punish 
ment  of  rebellious  subjects.  All  this  seems  rather  incon-  10 
sistent ;  but  it  shows  how  difficult  it  is  to  apply  these  juridi 
cal  ideas  to  our  present  case. 

In  this  situation,  let  us  seriously  and  coolly  ponder.  What 
is  it  we  have  got  by  all  our  menaces,  which  have  been  many 
and  ferocious?  What  advantage  have  we  derived  from  the  15 
penal  laws  we  have  passed,  and  which,  for  the  time,  have 
been  severe  and  numerous  ?  What  advances  have  we  made 
towards  our  object,  by  the  sending  of  a  force,  which,  by 
land  and  sea,  is  no  contemptible  strength  ?  Has  the  dis 
order  abated  ?  Nothing  less.  —  When  I  see  things  in  this  20 
situation,  after  such  confident  hopes,  bold  promises,  and 
active  exertions,  I  cannot,  for  my  life,  avoid  a  suspicion, 
that  the  plan  itself  is  not  correctly  right. 

If  then  the  removal  of  the  causes  of  this  spirit  of  Ameri 
can  liberty  be,  for  the  greater  part,  or  rather  entirely,  im-  25 
practicable  ;  if  the  ideas  of  criminal  process  be  inapplicable, 
or  if  applicable,  are  in  the  highest  degree  inexpedient ;  what 
way  yet  remains  ?  No  way  is  open,  but  the  third  and  last 
—  to  comply  with  the  American  spirit  as  necessary ;  or,  if 
you  please,  to  submit  to  it  as  a  necessary  evil.  3o 

If  we  adopt  this  mode  ;  if  we  mean  to  conciliate  and  con- 


122  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

cede  j  let  us  see  of  what  nature  the  concession  ought  to  be  ; 
to  ascertain  the  nature  of  our  concession,  we  must  look  at 
their  complaint.  The  colonies  complain,  that  they  have 
not  the  characteristic  mark  and  seal  of  British  freedom. 

5  They  complain,  that  they  are  taxed  in  a  parliament  in  which 
they  are  not  represented.  If  you  mean  to  satisfy  them  at 
all,  you  must  satisfy  them  with  regard  to  this  complaint. 
If  you  mean  to  please  any  people,  you  must  give  them  the 
boon  which  they  ask ;  not  what  you  may  think  better  for 

10  them,  but  of  a  kind  totally  different.  Such  an  act  may  be  a 
wise  regulation,  but  it  is  no  concession  :  whereas  our  pres 
ent  theme  is  the  mode  of  giving  satisfaction. 

Sir,  I  think  you  must  perceive,  that  I  am  resolved  this  day 
to  have  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  the  question  of  the  right  of 

15  taxation.1  Some  gentlemen  startle  —  but  it  is  true  ;  I  put  it 
totally  out  of  the  question.  It  is  less  than  nothing  in  my 
consideration.  I  do  not  indeed  wonder,  nor  will  you,  Sir, 
that  gentlemen  of  profound  learning  are  fond  of  displaying 
it  on  this  profound  subject.  But  my  consideration  is  nar- 

20  row,  confined,  and  wholly  limited  to  the  policy  of  the  ques 
tion.  I  do  not  examine,  whether  the  giving  away  a  man's 
money  be  a  power  excepted  and  reserved  out  of  the  general 
trust  of  government ;  and  how  far  all  mankind,  in  all  forms 
of  polity,  are  entitled  to  an  exercise  of  that  right  by  the 

25  charter  of  nature.  Or  whether,  on  the  contrary,  a  right  of 
taxation  is  necessarily  involved  in  the  general  principle  of 
legislation,  and  inseparable  from  the  ordinary  supreme 
power.  These  are  deep  questions,  where  great  names  mili 
tate  against  each  other ;  where  reason  is  perplexed ;  and  an 

3o  appeal  to  authorities  only  thickens  the  confusion.  For  high 
and  reverend  authorities  lift  up  their  heads  on  both  sides ; 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  123 

and  there  is  no  sure  footing  in  the  middle.  This  point  is 
the  great  Serbonian  bog,  betwixt  Damiata  and  Mount 
Casius  old,  where  armies  whole  have  sunk}  I  do  not 
intend  to  be  overwhelmed  in  that  bog,  though  in  such 
respectable  company.  The  question  with  me  is,  not  5 
whether  you  have  a  right  to  render  your  people  miserable  ; 
but  whether  it  is  not  your  interest  to  make  them  happy.  It 
is  not,  what  a  lawyer  tells  me  I  may  do ;  but  what  humanity, 
reason,  and  justice  tell  me  I  ought  to  do.  Is  a  politic  act 
the  worse  for  being  a  generous  one?  Is  no  concession  10 
proper,  but  that  which  is  made  from  your  want  of  right  to 
keep  what  you  grant  ?  Or  does  it  lessen  the  grace  or  dig 
nity  of  relaxing  in  the  exercise  of  an  odious  claim,  because 
you  have  your  evidence-room  full  of  titles,  and  your  maga 
zines  stuffed  with  arms  to  enforce  them?  What  signify  all  15 
those  titles,  and  all  those  arms?  Of  what  avail  are  they, 
when  the  reason  of  the  thing  tells  me,  that  the  assertion  of 
my  title  is  the  loss  of  my  suit ;  and  that  I  could  do  nothing 
but  wound  myself  by  the  use  of  my  own  weapons?2 

Such  is  stedfastly  my  opinion  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  20 
keeping  up  the  concord  of  this  empire  by  a  unity  of  spirit, 
though  in  a  diversity  of  operations,  that,  if  I  were  sure  the 
colonists  had,  at  their  leaving  this  country,  sealed  a  regular 
compact  of  servitude ;  that  they  had  solemnly  abjured  all 
the  rights  of  citizens  ;  that  they  had  made  a  vow  to  renounce  25 
all  ideas  of  liberty  for  them  and  their  posterity  to  all  genera 
tions  ;  yet  I  should  hold  myself  obliged  to  conform  to  the 
temper  I  found  universally  prevalent  in  my  own  day,  and  to 
govern  two  millions  of  men,  impatient  of  servitude,  on  the 
principles  of   freedom.     I  am  not  determining  a  point  of  30 
law ;  I  am  restoring  tranquillity ;  and  the  general  character 


124  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

and  situation  of  a  people  must  determine 'what  sort  of  gov 
ernment  is  fitted  for  them.  That  point  nothing  else  can  or 
ought  to  determine. 

My  idea,  therefore,  without  considering  whether  we  yield 

5  as  matter  of  right,  or  grant  as  matter  of  favour,  is  to  admit 
the  people  of  our  colonies  into  an  interest  in  the  constitution  ; 
and,  by  recording  that  admission  in  the  journals  of  parlia 
ment,  to  give  them  as  strong  an  assurance  as  the  nature  of 
the  thing  will  admit,  that  we  mean  forever  to  adhere  to  that 

10  solemn  declaration  of  systematic  indulgence. 

Some  years  ago,  the  repeal  of  a  revenue  act,  upon  its 
understood  principle,  might  have  served  to  show,  that  we 
intended  an  unconditional  abatement  of  the  exercise  of  a 
taxing  power.  Such  a  measure  was  then  sufficient  to 

15  remove  all  suspicion,  and  to  give  perfect  content.  But 
unfortunate  events,  since  that  time,  may  make  something 
further  necessary ;  and  not  more  necessary  for  the  satisfac 
tion  of  the  colonies,  than  for  the  dignity  and  consistency  of 
our  own  future  proceedings. 

20  I  have  taken  a  very  incorrect  measure  of  the  disposition 
of  the  House,  if  this  proposal  in  itself  would  be  received 
with  dislike.  I  think,  Sir,  we  have  few  American  financiers. 
But  our  misfortune  is,  we  are  too  acute ;  we  are  too  exqui 
site  in  our  conjectures  of  the  future,  for  men  oppressed  with 

25  such  great  and  present  evils.  The  more  moderate  among 
the  opposers  of  parliamentary  concession  freely  confess, 
that  they  hope  no  good  from  taxation ;  but  they  apprehend 
the  colonists  have  further  views ;  and  if  this  point  were 
conceded,  they  would  instantly  attack  the  trade  laws. 

30  These  gentlemen  are  convinced,  that  this  was  the  intention 
from  the  beginning ;  and  the  quarrel  of  the  Americans  with 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  125 

taxation  was  no  more  than  a  cloak  and  cover  to  this  design. 
Such  has  been  the  language  even  of  a  gentleman 1  of  real 
moderation,  and  of  a  natural  temper  well  adjusted  to  fair 
and  equal  government.  I  am,  however,  Sir,  not  a  little  sur 
prised  at  this  kind  of  discourse,  whenever  I  hear  it ;  and  I  5 
am  the  more  surprised,  on  account  of  the  arguments  which 
I  constantly  find  in  company  with  it,  and  which  are  often 
urged  from  the  same  mouths,  and  on  the  same  day. 

For  instance,  when  we  allege,  that  it  is  against  reason  to 
tax  a  people  under  so  many  restraints  in  trade  as  the  Ameri-   10 
cans,  the  noble  lord l  in  the  blue  riband  shall  tell  you,,  that 
the  restraints  on  trade  are  futile  and  useless ;  of  no  advan 
tage  to  us,  and  of  no  burthen  to  those  on  whom  they  are 
imposed ;  that  the  trade  to  America  is  not  secured  by  the 
acts  of  navigation,  but  by  the  natural  and  irresistible  advan-  15 
tage  of  a  commercial  preference. 

Such  is  the  merit  of  the  trade  laws  in  this  posture  of  the 
debate.  But  when  strong  internal  circumstances  are  urged 
against  the  taxes ;  when  the  scheme  is  dissected ;  when  ex 
perience  and  the  nature  of  things  are  brought  to  prove,  and  20 
do  prove,  the  utter  impossibility  of  obtaining  an  effective 
revenue  from  the  colonies ;  when  these  things  are  pressed, 
or  rather  press  themselves,  so  as  to  drive  the  advocates  of 
colony  taxes  to  a  clear  admission  of  the  futility  of  the 
scheme ;  then,  Sir,  the  sleeping  trade  laws  revive  from  their  25 
trance ;  and  this  useless  taxation  is  to  be  kept  sacred,  not 
for  its  own  sake,  but  as  a  counter- guard  and  security  of  the 
laws  of  trade. 

Then,  Sir,  you  keep  up  revenue  laws  which  are  mischievous, 
in  order  to  preserve  trade  laws  that  are  useless.     Such  is  the  30 
wisdom  of  our  plan  in  both  its  members.     They  are  sepa- 


126  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

rately  given  up  as  of  no  value ;  and  yet  one  is  always  to  be 
defended  for  the  sake  of  the  other.  But  I  cannot  agree 
with  the  noble  lord,  nor  with  the  pamphlet  from  whence  he 
seems  to  have  borrowed  these  ideas,1  concerning  the  inu- 

5  tility  of  the  trade  laws.  For,  without  idolizing  them,  I  am 
sure  they  are  still,  in  many  ways,  of  great  use  to  us  :  and  in 
former  times  they  have  been  of  the  greatest.  They  do  con 
fine,  and  they  do  greatly  narrow,  the  market  for  the  Ameri 
cans.  But  my  perfect  conviction  of  this  does  not  help  me 

10  in  the  least  to  discern  how  the  revenue  laws  form  any 
security  whatsoever  to  the  commercial  regulations ;  or  that 
these  commercial  regulations  are  the  true  ground  of  the 
quarrel ;  or  that  the  giving  way,  in  any  one  instance  of 
authority,  is  to  lose  all  that  may  remain  unconceded. 

15  One  fact  is  clear  and  indisputable.  The  public  and 
avowed  origin  of  this  quarrel  was  on  taxation.  This  quarrel 
has  indeed  brought  on  new  disputes  on  new  questions ;  but 
certainly  the  least  bitter,  and  the  fewest  of  all,  on  the  trade 
laws.  To  judge  which  of  the  two  be  the  real,  radical  cause 

20  of  quarrel,  we  have  to  see  whether  the  commercial  dispute 
did,  in  order  of  time,  precede  the  dispute  on  taxation? 
There  is  not  a  shadow  of  evidence  for  it.  Next,  to  enable 
us  to  judge  whether  at  this  moment  a  dislike  to  the  trade 
laws  be  the  real  cause  of  quarrel,  it  is  absolutely  necessary 

25  to  put  the  taxes  out  of  the  question  by  a  repeal.  See  how 
the  Americans  act  in  this  position,  and  then  you  will  be  able 
to  discern  correctly  what  is  the  true  object  of  the  contro 
versy,  or  whether  any  controversy  at  all  will  remain.  Unless 
you  consent  to  remove  this  cause  of  difference,  it  is  impos- 

30  sible,  with  decency,  to  assert  that  the  dispute  is  not  upon 
what  it  is  avowed  to  be.  And  I  would,  Sir,  recommend  to 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  127 

your  serious  consideration,  whether  it  be  prudent  to  form  a 
rule  for  punishing  people,  not  on  their  own  acts,  but  on  your 
conjectures?  Surely  it  is  preposterous  at  the  very  best.  It 
is  not  justifying  your  anger,  by  their  misconduct ;  but  it  is 
converting  your  ill-will  into  their  delinquency.  5 

But  the  colonies  will  go  further.  —  Alas  !  alas  !  when  will 
this  speculating  against  fact  and  reason  end? — What  will 
quiet  these  panic  fears  which  we  entertain  of  the  hostile 
effect  of  a  conciliatory  conduct?  Is  it  true,  that  no  case 
can  exist,  in  which  it  is  proper  for  the  sovereign  to  accede  to  10 
the  desires  of  his  discontented  subjects?  Is  there  anything 
peculiar  in  this  case,  to  make  a  rule  for  itself?  Is  all  au 
thority  of  course  lost,  when  it  is  not  pushed  to  the  extreme  ? 
Is  it  a  certain  maxim,  that  the  fewer  causes  of  dissatisfaction 
are  left  by  government,  the  more  the  subject  will  be  inclined  15 
to  resist  and  rebel  ? 

All  these  objections  being  in  fact  no  more  than  suspicions, 
conjectures,  divinations,  formed  in  defiance  of  fact  and  ex 
perience  ;  they  did  not,  Sir,  discourage  me  from  entertain 
ing  the  idea  of  a  conciliatory  concession,  founded  on  the  20 
principles  which  I  have  just  stated. 

In  forming  a  plan  for  this  purpose,  I  endeavoured  to  put 
myself  in  that  frame  of  mind  which  was  the  most  natural, 
and  the  most  reasonable  ;  and  which  was  certainly  the  most 
probable  means  of  securing  me  from  all  error.  I  set  out  25 
with  a  perfect  distrust  of  my  own  abilities ;  a  total  renun 
ciation  of  every  speculation  of  my  own ;  and  with  a  pro 
found  reverence  for  the  wisdom  of  our  ancestors,  who  have 
left  us  the  inheritance  of  so  happy  a  constitution,  and  so 
flourishing  an  empire,  and  what  is  a  thousand  times  more  3c 
valuable,  the  treasury  of  the  maxims  and  principles  which 
formed  the  one,  and  obtained  the  other. 


128  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

During  the  reigns  of  the  kings  of  Spain  of  the  Austrian 
family,  whenever  they  were  at  a  loss  in  the  Spanish  councils, 
it  was  common  for  their  statesmen  to  say,  that  they  ought 
to  consult  the  genius  of  Philip  the  Second.  The  genius  of 

5  Philip  the  Second  might  mislead  them ;  and  the  issue  of 
their  affairs  showed,  that  they  had  not  chosen  the  most 
perfect  standard.  But,  Sir,  I  am  sure  that  I  shall  not  be 
misled,  when,  in  a  case  of  constitutional  difficulty,  I  consult 
the  genius  of  the  English  constitution.  Consulting  at  that 

10  oracle  (it  was  with  all  due  humility  and  piety)  I  found  four 
capital  examples  in  a  similar  case  before  me ;  those  of 
Ireland,  Wales,  Chester,  and  Durham. 

Ireland,  before  the  English  conquest,  though  never  gov 
erned  by  a  despotic  power,  had  no  parliament.  How  far 

15  the  English  parliament  itself  was  at  that  time  modelled  ac 
cording  to  the  present  form,  is  disputed  among  antiquarians.1 
But  we  have  all  the  reason  in  the  world  to  be  assured  that 
a  form  of  parliament,  such  as  England  then  enjoyed,  she 
instantly  communicated  to  Ireland  ;  and  we  are  equally  sure 

20  that  almost  every  successive  improvement  in  constitutional 
liberty,  as  fast  as  it  was  made  here,  was  transmitted  thither. 
The  feudal  baronage,  and  the  feudal  knighthood,  the  roots 
of  our  primitive  constitution,  were  early  transplanted  into 
that  soil ;  and  grew  and  flourished  there.  Magna  Charta, 

25  if  it  did  not  give  us  originally  the  House  of  Commons,  gave 
us  at  least  a  House  of  Commons  of  weight  and  consequence. 
But  your  ancestors  did  not  churlishly  sit  down  alone  to  the 
feast  of  Magna  Charta.  Ireland  was  made  immediately  a 
partaker.  This  benefit  of  English  laws  and  liberties,  I  con- 

30  fess,  was  not  at  first  extended  to  all  Ireland,  Mark  the 
consequence.  English  authority  and  English  liberties  had 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  129 

exactly  the  same  boundaries.  Your  standard  could  never 
be  advanced  an  inch  before  your  privileges.1  Sir  John 
Davis  shows  beyond  a  doubt,  that  the  refusal  of  a  general 
communication  of  these  rights  was  the  true  cause  why 
Ireland  was  five  hundred  years  in  subduing ;  and  after  the  5 
vain  projects  of  a  military  government,  attempted  in  the 
reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  it  was  soon  discovered,  that 
nothing  could  make  that  country  English,  in  civility  and 
allegiance,  but  your  laws  and  your  forms  of  legislature.  It 
was  not  English  arms,  but  the  English  constitution,  that  10 
conquered  Ireland.  From  that  time,  Ireland  has  ever  had 
a  general  parliament,  as  she  had  before  a  partial  parliament. 
You  changed  the  people ;  you  altered  the  religion ;  but  you 
never  touched  the  form  or  the  vital  substance  of  free  gov 
ernment  in  that  kingdom.  You  deposed  kings ;  you  re-  15 
stored  them ;  you  altered  the  succession  to  theirs,  as  well  as 
to  your  own  crown ;  but  you  never  altered  their  consti 
tution  ;  the  principle  of  which  was  respected  by  usurpation ; 
restored  with  the  restoration  of  monarchy,  and  established, 
I  trust,  for  ever,  by  the  glorious  Revolution.  This  has  20 
made  Ireland  the  great  and  flourishing  kingdom  that  it  is ; 
and  from  a  disgrace  and  a  burthen  intolerable  to  this  nation, 
has  rendered  her  a  principal  part  of  our  strength  and  orna 
ment.  This  country  cannot  be  said  to  have  ever  formally 
taxed  her.  The  irregular  things  done  in  the  confusion  of  25 
mighty  troubles,  and  on  the  hinge  of  great  revolutions,  even 
if  all  were  done  that  is  said  to  have  been  done,  form  no 
example.  If  they  have  any  effect  in  argument,  they  make 
an  exception  to  prove  the  rule.  None  of  your  own  liberties 
could  stand  a  moment  if  the  casual  deviations  from  them,  30 
at  such  times,  were  suffered  to  be  used  as  proofs  of  their 


130  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

nullity.  By  the  lucrative  amount  of  such  casual  breaches 
in  the  constitution,  judge  what  the  stated  and  fixed  rule  of 
supply  has  been  in  that  kingdom.  Your  Irish  pensioners 
would  starve  if  they  had  no  other  fund  to  live  on  than  taxes 

5  granted  by  English  authority.  Turn  your  eyes  to  those 
popular  grants  from  whence  all  your  great  supplies  are 
come  •  and  learn  to  respect  that  only  source  of  public 
wealth  in  the  British  empire. 

My  next  example  is  Wales.1     This  country  was  said  to  be 

10  reduced  by  Henry  the  Third.  It  was  said  more  truly  to  be 
so  by  Edward  the  First.  But  though  then  conquered,  it  was 
not  looked  upon  as  any  part  of  the  realm  of  England.  Its 
old  constitution,  whatever  that  might  have  been,  was  de 
stroyed  ;  and  no  good  one  was  substituted  in  its  place. 

15  The  care  of  that  tract  was  put  into  the  hands  of  lords 
marchers  —  a  form  of  government  of  a  very  singular  kind  j 
a  strange  heterogeneous  monster,  something  between  hos 
tility  and  government ;  perhaps  it  has  a  sort  of  resemblance, 
according  to  the  modes  of  those  times,  to  that  of  comman- 

20  der-in-chief  at  present,  to  whom  all  civil  power  is  granted 
as  secondary.  The  manners  of  the  Welsh  nation  followed 
the  genius  of  the  government ;  the  people  were  ferocious, 
restive,  savage,  and  uncultivated ;  sometimes  composed, 
never  pacified.  Wales,  within  itself,  was  in  perpetual  dis- 

25  order;  and  it  kept  the  frontier  of  England  in  perpetual 
alarm.  Benefits  from  it  to  the  state  there  were  none. 
Wales  was  only  known  to  England  by  incursion  and  in 
vasion. 

Sir,  during  that  state  of  things,  parliament  was  not  idle. 

3o  They  attempted  to  subdue  the  fierce  spirit  of  the  Welsh  by 
all  sorts  of  rigorous  laws.  They  prohibited  by  statute  the 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  131 

sending  all  sorts  of  arms  into  Wales,  as  you  prohibit  by  pro 
clamation  (with  something  more  of  doubt  in  the  legality) 
the  sending  arms  to  America.  They  disarmed  the  Welsh  by 
statute,  as  you  attempted  (but  still  with  more  question  on 
the  legality)  to  disarm  New  England  by  an  instruction.  5 
They  made  an  act  to  drag  offenders  from  Wales  into  England 
for  trial,  as  you  have  done  (but  with  more  hardship)  with 
regard  to  America.  By  another  act,  where  one  of  the  par 
ties  was  an  Englishman,  they  ordained,  that  his  trial  should 
be  always  by  English.  They  made  acts  to  restrain  trade,  as  10 
you  do ;  and  they  prevented  the  Welsh  from  the  use  of  fairs 
and  markets,  as  you  do  the  Americans  from  fisheries  and 
foreign  ports.  In  short,  when  the  statute  book  was  not  quite 
so  much  swelled  as  it  is  now,  you  find  no  less  than  fifteen 
acts  of  penal  regulation  on  the  subject  of  Wales.  15 

Here  we  rub  our  hands  —  A  fine  body  of  precedents  for 
the  authority  of  parliament  and  the  use  of  it !  —  I  admit  it 
fully  ;  and  pray  add  likewise  to  these  precedents,  that  all  the 
while,  Wales  rid  this  kingdom  like  an  incubus ;  that  it  was 
an  unprofitable  and  oppressive  burthen  ;  and  that  an  English-  20 
man  travelling  in  that  country  could  not  go  six  yards  from 
the  high  road  without  being  murdered. 

The  march  of  the  human  mind  is  slow.     Sir,  it  was  not, 
until  after  two  hundred  years,  discovered,  that,  by  an  eternal 
law,  Providence  had  decreed  vexation  to  violence,  and  pov-  25 
erty  to  rapine.     Your  ancestors  did  however  at  length  open 
their  eyes  to  the  ill  husbandry  of  injustice.     They  found 
that  the  tyranny  of  a  free  people  could  of  all  tyrannies  the 
least  be  endured  ;  and  that  laws  made  against  a  whole  nation 
were  not  the  most  effectual  methods  for  securing  its  obedi-  30 
ence.      Accordingly,  in  the  twenty-seventh  year  of  Henry 


132  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

VIII.  the^  course  was  entirely  altered.  With  a  preamble 
stating  the  entire  and  perfect  rights  of  the  crown  of  England, 
it  gave  to  the  Welsh  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  English 
subjects.  A  political  order  was  established;  the  military 

5  power  gave  way  to  the  civil ;  the  marches  were  turned  into 
counties.  But  that  a  nation  should  have  a  right  to  English 
liberties,  and  yet  no  share  at  all  in  the  fundamental  security 
of  these  liberties — the  grant  of  their  own  property  —  seemed 
a  thing  so  incongruous,  that,  eight  years  after,  that  is,  in  the 

10  thirty-fifth  of  that  reign,  a  complete  and  not  ill-proportioned 
representation  by  counties  and  boroughs  was  bestowed  upon 
Wales,  by  act  of  parliament.1  From  that  moment,  as  by  a 
charm,  the  tumults  subsided,  obedience  was  restored,  peace, 
order,  and  civilization  followed  in  the  train  of  liberty. — When 

15  the  day-star  of  the  English  constitution  had  arisen  in  their 
hearts,  all  was  harmony  within  and  without  — 

—  Sirmtl  alba  nautis 

Stella  refulsit, 

Defluit  saxis  agitatus  humor ; 

20  Concidunt  venti,  fugiuntque  nubes, 

Et  minax  (quod  sic  voluere)  ponto 
Unda  recumbit^. 

The  very  same  year  the  county  palatine  of  Chester  re 
ceived  the  same  relief  from  its  oppressions,  and  the  same 

25  remedy  to  its  disorders.  Before  this  time  Chester  was  little 
less  distempered  than  Wales.  The  inhabitants,  without  rights 
themselves,  were  the  fittest  to  destroy  the  rights  of  others ; 
and  from  thence  Richard  II.  drew  the  standing  army  of 
archers,  with  which  for  a  time  he  oppressed  England.  The 

30  people  of  Chester  applied  to  parliament  in  a  petition  penned 
as  I  shall  read  to  you  : 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  133 

"  To  the  king  our  sovereign  lord,  in  most  humble  wise 
shown  unto  your  excellent  Majesty,  the  inhabitants  of  your 
Grace's  county  palatine  of  Chester;  That  where  the  said 
county  palatine  of  Chester  is  and  hath  been  always  hitherto 
exempt,  excluded  and  separated  out  and  from  your  high  5 
court  of  parliament,  to  have  any  knights  and  burgesses 
within  the  said  court ;  by  reason  whereof  the  said  inhabi 
tants  have  hitherto  sustained  manifold  disherisons,  losses,  and 
damages,  as  well  in  their  lands,  goods,  and  bodies,  as  in  the 
good,  civil,  and  politic  governance  and  maintenance  of  the  10 
commonwealth  of  their  said  country:  (2)  And  forasmuch 
as  the  said  inhabitants  have  always  hitherto  been  bound  by 
the  acts  and  statutes  made  and  ordained  by  your  said  High 
ness,  and  your  most  noble  progenitors,  by  authority  of  the 
said  court,  as  far  forth  as  other  counties,  cities,  and  bor-  15 
oughs  have  been,  that  have  had  their  knights  and  burgesses 
within  your  said  court  of  parliament,  and  yet  have  had 
neither  knight  ne  burgess  there  for  the  said  county  palatine  ; 
the  said  inhabitants,  for  lack  thereof,  have  been  oftentimes 
touched  and  grieved  with  acts  and  statutes  made  within  the  20 
said  court,  as  well  derogatory  unto  the  most  ancient  juris 
dictions,  liberties,  and  privileges  of  your  said  county  pala 
tine,  as  prejudicial  unto  the  commonwealth,  quietness,  rest, 
and  peace  of  your  Grace's  most  bounden  subjects  inhabiting 
within  the  same."  25 

What  did  parliament  with  this  audacious  address  ?  —  Re 
ject  it  as  a  libel?  Treat  it  as  an  affront  to  government? 
Spurn  it  as  a  derogation  from  the  rights  of  legislature? 
Did  they  toss  it  over  the  table  ?  Did  they  burn  it  by  the 
hands  of  the  common  hangman?  They  took  the  petition  30 
of  grievance,  all  rugged  as  it  was,  without  softening  or 


134  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

temperament,  unpurged  of  the  original  bitterness  and  indig 
nation  of  complaint ;  they  made  it  the  very  preamble  to 
their  act  of  redress ;  and  consecrated  its  principle  to  all 
ages  in  the  sanctuary  of  legislation. 

5  Here  is  my  third  example.  It  was  attended  with  the 
success  of  the  two  former.  Chester,  civilized  as  well  as 
Wales,  has  demonstrated  that  freedom,  and  not  servitude,  is 
the  cure  of  anarchy ;  as  religion,  and  not  atheism,  is  the 
true  remedy  for  superstition.  Sir,  this  pattern  of  Chester 

10  was  followed  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  with  regard  to  the 
county  palatine  of  Durham,  which  is  my  fourth  example. 
This  county  had  long  lain  out  of  the  pale  of  free  legislation. 
So  scrupulously  was  the  example  of  Chester  followed,  that 
the  style  of  the  preamble  is  nearly  the  same  with  that  of  the 

15  Chester  act ;  and,  without  affecting  the  abstract  extent  of 
the  authority  of  parliament,  it  recognises  the  equity  of  not 
suffering  any  considerable  district,  in  which  the  British  sub 
jects  may  act  as  a  body,  to  be  taxed  without  their  own  voice 
in  the  grant.1 

20  Now  if  the  doctrines  of  policy  contained  in  these  pream 
bles,  and  the  force  of  these  examples  in  the  acts  of  parlia 
ment,  avail  anything,  what  can  be  said  against  applying 
them  with  regard  to  America?  Are  not  the  people  of 
America  as  much  Englishmen  as  the  Welsh?  The  pream- 

25  ble  of  the  act  of  Henry  VIII.  says,  the  Welsh  speak  a  lan 
guage  no  way  resembling  that  of  his  Majesty's  English 
subjects.  Are  the  Americans  not  as  numerous  ?  If  we  may 
trust  the  learned  and  accurate  Judge  Barrington's  account 
of  North  Wales,  and  take  that  as  a  standard  to  measure  the 

50  rest,  there  is  no  comparison.  The  people  cannot  amount  to 
above  200,000 ;  not  a  tenth  part  of  the  number  in  the  colo- 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  135 

nies.  Is  America  in  rebellion  ?  Wales  was  hardly  ever  free 
from  it.  Have  you  attempted  to  govern  America  by  penal 
statutes?  You  made  fifteen  for  Wales.  But  your  legisla 
tive  authority  is  perfect  with  regard  to  America ;  was  it  less 
perfect  in  Wales,  Chester,  and  Durham?  But  America  is  5 
virtually  represented.  What !  does  the  electric  force  of  vir 
tual  representation  more  easily  pass  over  the  Atlantic,  than 
pervade  Wales,  which  lies  in  your  neighbourhood ;  or  than 
Chester  and  Durham,  surrounded  by  abundance  of  repre 
sentation  that  is  actual  and  palpable  ?  But,  Sir,  your  ances-  10 
tors  thought  this  sort  of  virtual  representation,  however 
ample,  to  be  totally  insufficient  for  the  freedom  of  the  in 
habitants  of  territories  that  are  so  near,  and  comparatively 
so  inconsiderable.  How  then  can  I  think  it  sufficient  for 
those  which  are  infinitely  greater,  and  infinitely  more  15 
remote? 

You  will  now,  Sir,  perhaps  imagine,  that  I  am  on  the  point 
of  proposing  to  you  a  scheme  for  a  representation  of  the 
colonies  in  parliament.      Perhaps   I   might  be   inclined   to 
entertain  some  such  thought ;  but  a  great  flood  stops  me  in  20, 
my  course.     Opposuit  natura  —  I  cannot  remove  the  eternal 
barriers  of  the  creation.     The  thing,  in  that  mode,  I  do  not 
know  to  be  possible.    As  I  meddle  with  no  theory,  I  do  not 
absolutely  assert  the  impracticability  of  such  a  representa 
tion.     But  I  do  not  see  my  way  to  it ;  and  those  who  have  25 
been  more  confident  have  not  been  more  successful.     How 
ever,  the  arm  of  public  benevolence  is  not  shortened ;  and 
there    are    often   several   means  to   the   same   end.     What 
nature  has  disjoined  in  one  way,  wisdom  may  unite  in  an 
other.     When  we  cannot  give  the  benefit  as  we  would  wish,  30 
let  us  not  refuse  it  altogether.     If  we  cannot  give  the  prin-  . 


136  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

cipal,  let  us  find  a  substitute.     But  how?     Where?     What 
substitute  ? 

Fortunately  I  am  not  obliged  for  the  ways  and  means  of 
this  substitute  to  tax  my  own  unproductive  invention.  I  am 

5  not  even  obliged  to  go  to  the  rich  treasury  of  the  fertile 
framers  of  imaginary  commonwealths;  not  to  the  Republic 
of  Plato  ;  not  to  the  Utopia  of  More  ;  not  to  the  Oceana  of 
Harrington.  It  is  before  me — it  is  at  my  feet,  and  the  rude 
swain  treads  daily  on  it  with  his  clouted  shoon.  I  only  wish 

10  you  to  recognise,  for  the  theory,  the  ancient  constitutional 
policy  of  this  kingdom  with  regard  to  representation,  as  that 
policy  has  been  declared  in  acts  of  parliament ;  and,  as  to 
the  practice,  to  return  to  that  mode  which  an  uniform  experi 
ence  has  marked  out  to  you,  as  best ;  and  in  which  you  walked 

15  with  security,  advantage,  and  honour,  until  the  year  1763. 

My  resolutions  therefore  mean  to  establish  the  equity  and 
justice  of  a  taxation  of  America,  by  grant,  and  not  by  impo 
sition.  To  mark  the  legal  competency  of  the  colony  assem 
blies  for  the  support  of  their  government  in  peace,  and  for 

20  public  aids  in  time  of  war.     To  acknowledge  that  this  legal 

competency  has  had  a  dutiful  and  beneficial  exercise  ;  and 

that  experience  has  shown  the  benefit  of  their  grants,  and  the 

futility  of  parliamentary  taxation  as  a  method  of  supply. 

These  solid  truths  compose  six  fundamental  propositions. 

25  There  are  three  more  resolutions  corollary  to  these.  If  you 
admit  the  first  set,  you  can  hardly  reject  the  others.  But  if 
you  admit  the  first,  I  shall  be  far  from  solicitous  whether  you 
accept  or  refuse  the  last.  I  think  these  six  massive  pillars 
will  be  of  strength  sufficient  to  support  the  temple  of  British 

30  concord.  I  have  no  more  doubt  than  I  entertain  of  my  ex 
istence,  that,  if  you  admitted  these,  you  would  command  an 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  137 

immediate  peace ;  and,  with  but  tolerable  future  manage 
ment,  a  lasting  obedience  in  America.  I  am  not  arrogant  in 
this  confident  assurance.  The  propositions  are  all  mere  mat 
ters  of  fact ;  and  if  they  are  such  facts  as  draw  irresistible 
conclusions  even  in  the  stating,  this  is  the  power  of  truth,  5 
and  not  any  management  of  mine. 

Sir,  I  shall  open  the  whole  plan  to  you,  together  with 
such  observations  on  the  motions  as  may  tend  to  illustrate 
them  where  they  may  want  explanation,  The  first  is  a  reso 
lution —  "  That  the  colonies  and  plantations  of  Great  Britain  10 
in  North  America,  consisting  of  fourteen  separate  govern 
ments,  and  containing  two  millions  and  upwards  of  free  in 
habitants,  have  not  had  the  liberty  and  privilege  of  electing 
and  sending  any  knights  and  burgesses,  or  others,  to  repre 
sent  them  in  the  high  court  of  parliament."  —  This  is  a  plain  15 
matter  of  fact,  necessary  to  be  laid  down,  and  (excepting  the 
description)  it  is  laid  down  in  the  language  of  the  constitu 
tion  ;  it  is  taken  nearly  verbatim  from  acts  of  parliament. 

The  second  is  like  unto  the  first  —  "  That  the  said  colonies 
and  plantations  have  been  liable  to,  and  bounden  by,  several  2o 
subsidies,  payments,  rates,  and  taxes,  given  and  granted  by 
parliament,  though  the  said  colonies  and  plantations  have 
not  their  knights  and  burgesses,  in  the  said  high  court  of 
parliament,  of  their  own  election,  to  represent  the  condition 
of  their  country  ;  by  lack  whereof  they  have  been  oftentimes  25 
touched  and  grieved  by  subsidies  given,  granted,  and  assented 
to,  in  the  said  court,  in  a  manner  prejudicial  to  the  common 
wealth,  quietness,  rest,  and  peace  of  the  subjects  inhabiting 
within  the  same." 

Is  this  description  too  hot,  or  too  cold,  too  strong,  or  too  30 
weak  ?    Does  it  arrogate  too  much  to  the  supreme  legisla- 


138  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

ture?  Does  it  lean  too  much  to  the  claims  of  the  people? 
If  it  runs  into  any  of  these  errors,  the  fault  is  not  mine.  It 
is  the  language  of  your  own  ancient  acts  of  parliament. 

Non  meus  hie  sermo,  sed  qua  pracepit  OfeHus, 
5  Rusticus,  abnormis  sapiens! 

It  is  the  genuine  produce  of  the  ancient,  rustic,  manly,  home 
bred  sense  of  this  country.  —  I  did  not  dare  to  rub  off  a  par 
ticle  of  the  venerable  rust  that  rather  adorns  and  preserves, 
than  destroys,  the  metal.  It  would  be  a  profanation  to 

10  touch  with  a  tool  the  stones  which  construct  the  sacred  altar 
of  peace.2  I  would  not  violate  with  modern  polish  the  in 
genuous  and  noble  roughness  of  these  truly  constitutional 
materials.  Above  all  things,  I  was  resolved  not  to  be  guilty 
of  tampering  :  the  odious  vice  of  restless  and  unstable  minds. 

15  I  put  my  foot  in  the  tracks  of  our  forefathers,  where  I  can 
neither  wander  nor  stumble.  Determining  to  fix  articles  of 
peace,  I  was  resolved  not  to  be  wise  beyond  what  was  writ 
ten  ; 3  I  was  resolved  to  use  nothing  else  than  the  form  of 
sound  words ; 4  to  let  others  abound  in  their  own  sense ;  and 

20  carefully  to  abstain  from  all  expressions  of  my  own.  What 
the  law  has  said,  I  say.  In  all  things  else  I  am  silent.  I 
have  no  organ  but  for  her  words.  This,  if  it  be  not  ingen 
ious,  I  am  sure  is  safe. 

There  are  indeed  words  expressive  of  grievance  in  this 

25  second  resolution,  which  those  who  are  resolved  always  to 
be  in  the  right  will  deny  to  contain  matter  of  fact,  as  applied 
to  the  present  case  ;  although  parliament  thought  them  true, 
with  regard  to  the  counties  of  Chester  and  Durham.  They 
will  deny  that  the  Americans  were  ever  "touched  and 

30  grieved  "  with  the  taxes.     If  they  consider  nothing  in  taxes 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  139 

but  their  weight  as  pecuniary  impositions,  there  might  be 
some  pretence  for  this  denial.  But  men  may  be  sorely 
touched  and  deeply  grieved  in  their  privileges,  as  well  as  in 
their  purses.  Men  may  lose  little  in  property  by  the  act 
which  takes  away  all  their  freedom.  When  a  man  is  robbed  5 
of  a  trifle  on  the  highway,  it  is  not  the  two-pence  lost  that 
constitutes  the  capital  outrage.  This  is  not  confined  to 
privileges.  Even  ancient  indulgences  withdrawn,  without 
offence  on  the  part  of  those  who  enjoyed  such  favours,  oper 
ate  as  grievances.  But  were  the  Americans  then  not  touched  10 
and  grieved  by  the  taxes,  in  some  measure,  merely  as  taxes  ? 
If  so,  why  were  they  almost  all  either  wholly  repealed  or  ex 
ceedingly  reduced?  Were  they  not  touched  and  grieved 
even  by  the  regulating  duties  of  the  sixth  of  George  II.  ? 
Else  why  were  the  duties  first  reduced  to  one-third  in  1764,  15 
and  afterwards  to  a  third  of  that  third  in  the  year  1 766  ? 
Were  they  not  touched  and  grieved  by  the  stamp  act?  I 
shall  say  they  were,  until  that  tax  is  revived.  Were  they  not 
touched  and  grieved  by  the  duties  of  1767,  which  were  like 
wise  repealed,  and  which  Lord  Hillsborough  tells  you  (for  20 
the  ministry)  were  laid  contrary  to  the  true  principle  of 
commerce  ?  Is  not  the  assurance  given  by  that  noble  per 
son  to  the  colonies  of  a  resolution  to  lay  no  more  taxes  on 
them,  an  admission  that  taxes  would  touch  and  grieve  them  ? 
Is  not  the  resolution  of  the  noble  lord  in  the  blue  riband,  25 
now  standing  on  your  journals,  the  strongest  of  all  proofs 
that  parliamentary  subsidies  really  touched  and  grieved 
them?  Else  why  all  these  changes,  modifications,  repeals, 
assurances,  and  resolutions? 

The  next  proposition  is  —  "That,  from  the  distance  of  30 
the  said  colonies,  and  from  other  circumstances,  no  method 


140  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

hath  hitherto  been  devised  for  procuring  a  representation  in 
parliament  for  the  said  colonies."  This  is  an  assertion  of  a 
fact.  I  go  no  further  on  the  paper ;  though,  in  my  private 
judgment,  an  useful  representation  is  impossible ;  I  am  sure 

5  it  is  not  desired  by  them  ;  nor  ought  it  perhaps  by  us  ;  but 
I  abstain  from  opinions. 

The  fourth  resolution  is  — "  That  each  of  the  said  colo 
nies  hath  within  itself  a  body,  chosen  in  part,  or  in  the 
whole,  by  the  freemen,  freeholders,  or  other  free  inhabitants 

10  thereof,  commonly  called  the  General  Assembly,  or  General 
Court ;  with  powers  legally  to  raise,  levy,  and  assess,  accord 
ing  to  the  several  usage  of  such  colonies,  duties  and  taxes 
towards  defraying  all  sorts  of  public  services." 

This  competence  in  the  colony  assemblies  is  certain.     It 

15  is  proved  by  the  whole  tenor  of  their  acts  of  supply  in  all  the 
assemblies,  in  which  the  constant  style  of  granting  is,  "  an 
aid  to  his  Majesty  "  ;  and  acts  granting  to  the  crown  have 
regularly  for  near  a  century  passed  the  public  offices  without 
dispute.  Those  who  have  been  pleased  paradoxically  to 

20  deny  this  right,  holding  that  none  but  the  British  parliament 
can  grant  to  the  crown,  are  wished  to  look  to  what  is  done, 
not  only  in  the  colonies,  but  in  Ireland,  in  one  uniform  un 
broken  tenor  every  session.  Sir,  I  am  surprised  that  this 
doctrine  should  come  from  some  of  the  law  servants  of  the 

25  crown.  I  say,  that  if  the  crown  could  be  responsible,  his 
Majesty  —  but  certainly  the  ministers,  and  even  these  law 
officers  themselves,  through  whose  hands  the  acts  pass  bien 
nially  in  Ireland,  or  annually  in  the  colonies,  are  in  an  ha 
bitual  course  of  committing  impeachable  offences.  What 

30  habitual  offenders  have  been  all  presidents  of  the  council, 
all  secretaries  of  state,  all  first  lords  of  trade,  all  attornies 


ON   CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  141 

and  all  solicitors  general !  However,  they  are  safe ;  as  no 
one  impeaches  them;  and  there  is  no  ground  of  charge 
against  them,  except  in  their  own  unfounded  theories. 

The  fifth  resolution  is  also  a  resolution  of  fact  — "  That 
the  said  general  assemblies,  general  courts,  or  other  bodies  5 
legally  qualified  as  aforesaid,  have  at  sundry  times  freely 
granted  several  large  subsidies  and  public  aids  for  his 
Majesty's  service,  according  to  their  abilities,  when  required 
thereto  by  letter  from  one  of  his  Majesty's  principal  secre 
taries  of  state ;  and  that  their  right  to  grant  the  same,  and  10 
their  cheerfulness  and  sufficiency  in  the  said  grants,  have 
been  at  sundry  times  acknowledged  by  parliament."  To 
say  nothing  of  their  great  expenses  in  the  Indian  wars  ;  and 
not  to  take  their  exertion  in  foreign  ones,  so  high  as  the  sup 
plies  in  the  year  1695 ;  not  to  go  back  to  their  public  con-  15 
tributions  in  the  year  1710;  I  shall  begin  to  travel  only 
where  the  journals  give  me  light ;  resolving  to  deal  in  noth 
ing  but  fact,  authenticated  by  parliamentary  record  ;  and  to 
build  myself  wholly  on  that  solid  basis. 

On  the  4th  of  April,  1748,  a  committee   of  this  House  20 
came  to  the  following  resolution  : l 

"Resolved — That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  committee, 
That  it  is  just  and  reasonable  that  the  several  provinces 
and  colonies  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  New  Hampshire,  Con 
necticut,  and  Rhode  Island,  be  reimbursed  the  expenses  25 
they  have  been  at  in  taking  and  securing  to  the  crown 
of  Great  Britain  the  island  of  Cape  Breton  and  its  de 
pendencies." 

These  expenses  were  immense  for  such  colonies.     They 
were   above   ,£200,000   sterling;    money   first   raised    and  3o 
advanced  on  their  public  credit. 


142  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

On  the  28th  of  January,  1756,  a  message  from  the  king 
came  to  us,  to  this  effect1 — "  His  Majesty,  being  sensible  of 
the  zeal  and  vigour  with  which  his  faithful  subjects  of  certain 
colonies  in  North  America  have  exerted  themselves  in  defence 

5  of  his  Majesty's  just  rights  and  possessions,  recommends  it  to 
this  House  to  take  the  same  into  their  consideration,  and  to 
enable  his  Majesty  to  give  them  such  assistance  as  may  be  a 
proper  reward  and  encouragement" 

On  the  3rd  of  February,  1756,  the  House  came  to  a  suit- 

10  able  resolution,  expressed  in  words  nearly  the  same  as  those 
of  the  message  : 2  but  with  the  further  addition,  that  the 
money  then  voted  was  as  an  encouragement  to  the  colonies 
to  exert  themselves  with  vigour.  It  will  not  be  necessary  to 
go  through  all  the  testimonies  which  your  own  records  have 

15  given  to  the  truth  of  my  resolutions,  I  will  only  refer  you  to 
the  places  in  the  journals  : 

Vol.  xxvii. —  i6th  and  igth  May,  1757. 

Vol.  xxviii.  —  June  1st,  1758  —  April  26th  and  3Oth,  1759  —  March 
26th  and  3ist,  and  April  28th,  1760  —  Jan.  9th  and 
20  loth,  1761. 

Vol.  xxix.  —  Jan.  22nd  and  26th,  1762  —  March  I4th  and  I7th,  1763. 

Sir,  here  is  the  repeated  acknowledgment  of  parliament, 
that  the  colonies  not  only  gave,  but  gave  to  satiety.  This 
nation  has  formerly  acknowledged  two  things  ;  first,  that  the 

25  colonies  had  gone  beyond  their  abilities,  parliament  having 
thought  it  necessary  to  reimburse  them  ;  secondly,  that  they 
had  acted  legally  and  laudably  in  their  grants  of  money, 
and  their  maintenance  of  troops,  since  the  compensation  is 
expressly  given  as  reward  and  encouragement.3  Reward  is 

30  not  bestowed  for  acts  that  are  unlawful ;  and  encouragement 
is  not  held  out  to  things  that  deserve  reprehension.  My 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  143 

resolution  therefore  does  nothing  more  than  collect  into  one 
proposition,  what  is  scattered  through  your  journals.  I  give 
you  nothing  but  your  own;  and  you  cannot  refuse  in  the 
gross,  what  you  have  so  often  acknowledged  in  detail.  The 
admission  of  this,  which  will  be  so  honourable  to  them  and  5 
to  you,  will,  indeed,  be  mortal  to  all  the  miserable  stories, 
by  which  the  passions  of  the  misguided  people  have  been 
engaged  in  an  unhappy  system.  The  people  heard,  indeed, 
from  the  beginning  of  these  disputes,  one  thing  continually 
dinned  in  their  ears,  that  reason  and  justice  demanded,  that  10 
the  Americans,  who  paid  no  taxes,  should  be  compelled  to 
contribute.  How  did  that  fact,  of  their  paying  nothing, 
stand,  when  the  taxing  system  began  ?  When  Mr.  Grenville 
began  to  form  his  system  of  American  revenue,  he  stated  in 
this  House,  that  the  colonies  were  then  in  debt  two  million  15 
six  hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling  money;  and  was  of 
opinion  they  would  discharge  that  debt  in  four  years.  On 
this  state,  those  untaxed  people  were  actually  subject  to  the 
payment  of  taxes  to  the  amount  of  six  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  a  year.  In  fact,  however,  Mr.  Grenville  was  mis-  20 
taken.  The  funds  given  for  sinking  the  debt  did  not  prove 
quite  so  ample  as  both  the  colonies  and  he  expected.  The 
calculation  was  too  sanguine ;  the  reduction  was  not  com 
pleted  till  some  years  after,  and  at  different  times  in  different 
colonies.  However,  the  taxes  after  the  war  continued  too  25 
great  to  bear  any  addition,  with  prudence  or  propriety ;  and 
when  the  burthens  imposed  in  consequence  of  former  requi 
sitions  were  discharged,  our  tone  became  too  high  to  resort 
again  to  requisition.  No  colony,  since  that  time,  ever  has 
had  any  requisition  whatsoever  made  to  it.  30 

We  see  the  sense  of  the  crown,  and  the  sense  of  parlia- 


144  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

ment,  on  the  productive  nature  of  a  revenue  by  grant.  Now 
search  the  same  journals  for  the  produce  of  the  revenue  by 
imposition  —  Where  is  it? — let  us  know  the  volume  and  the 
page  —  what  is  the  gross,  what  is  the  net  produce?  —  to 

5  what  service  is  it  applied  ?  —  how  have  you  appropriated  its 
surplus?  —  What,  can  none  of  the  many  skilful  index-makers 
that  we  are  now  employing,  find  any  trace  of  it  ?  —  Well,  let 
them  and  that  rest  together.  —  But  are  the  journals,  which 
say  nothing  of  the  revenue,  as  silent  on  the  discontent?  — 

10  Oh,  no  !  a  child  may  find  it.  It  is  the  melancholy  burthen 
and  blot  of  every  page. 

I  think  then  I  am,  from  those  journals,  justified  in  the 
sixth  and  last  resolution,  which  is  —  "  That  it  hath  been 
found  by  experience,  that  the  manner  of  granting  the  said 

15  supplies  and  aids,  by  the  said  general  assemblies,  hath  been 
more  agreeable  to  the  said  colonies,  and  more  beneficial, 
and  conducive  to  the  public  service,  than  the  mode  of 
giving  and  granting  aids  in  parliament,  to  be  raised  and 
paid  in  the  said  colonies."  This  makes  the  whole  of  the 

20  fundamental  part  of  the  plan.  The  conclusion  is  irresistible. 
You  cannot  say,  that  you  were  driven  by  any  necessity  to  an 
exercise  of  the  utmost  rights  of  legislature.  You  cannot 
assert,  that  you  took  on  yourselves  the  task  of  imposing 
colony  taxes,  from  the  want  of  another  legal  body,  that  is 

25  competent  to  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  exigences  of  the 
state  without  wounding  the  prejudices  of  the  people.  Nei 
ther  is  it  true  that  the  body  so  qualified,  and  having  that 
competence,  had  neglected  the  duty. 

The  question  now,  on  all  this  accumulated  matter,  is  ;  — 

30  whether  you  will  choose  to  abide  by  a  profitable  experience, 
or  a  mischievous  theory ;  whether  you  choos'e  to  build  on 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  145 

imagination,   or   fact;   whether   you   prefer  enjoyment,  or 
hope;    satisfaction  in  your  subjects,  or  discontent? 

If  these  propositions  are  accepted,  everything  which  has 
been  made  to  enforce  a  contrary  system,  must,  I  take  it  for 
granted,  fall  along  with  it.     On  that  ground,  I  have  drawn    5 
the  following  resolution,  which,  when  it  comes  to  be  moved, 
will  naturally  be  divided  in  a  proper  manner  :  "  That  it  may 
be  proper  to  repeal  an  act,  made  in  the  seventh  year  of  the 
reign  of  his  present  Majesty,  intituled,  An  act  for  granting 
certain  duties  in   the    British  colonies  and   plantations  in  10 
America ;  for  allowing  a  drawback  of  the  duties  of  customs 
upon  the  exportation  from  this  kingdom,  of  coffee  and  co- 
coanuts  of  the  produce  of  the  said  colonies  or  plantations ; 
for  discontinuing  the  drawbacks  payable  on  China  earthen 
ware  exported  to  America;    and  for  more  effectually  pre-  15 
venting  the  clandestine  running  of  goods  in  the  said  colonies 
and  plantations.  —  And  that  it  may  be  proper  to  repeal  an 
act,  made  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  his  present 
Majesty,  intituled,  An  act  to  discontinue,  in  such  manner, 
and  for  such  time,  as  are  therein  mentioned,  the  landing  20 
and  discharging,  lading  or  shipping,  of  goods,  wares,  and 
merchandise,  at  the  town  and  within  the  harbour  of  Boston, 
in  the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  North  America.  — 
And  that  it  may  be  proper  .to  repeal  an  act,  made  in  the 
fourteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  his  present  Majesty,  intituled,  25 
An  act  for  the  impartial  administration  of  justice,  in  the 
cases  of  persons  questioned  for  any  acts  done  by  them,  in 
the  execution  of  the  law,  or  for  the  suppression  of  riots  and 
tumults,   in  the  *  province    of  Massachusetts   Bay,  in    New 
England.  —  And  that  it  may  be   proper  to  repeal  an  act,  30 
made  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  his  present 


H6  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

Majesty,  intituled,  An  act  for  the  better  regulating  the  gov 
ernment  of  the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New 
England.  —  And,  also,  that  it  may  be  proper  to  explain  and 
amend  an  act,  made  in  the  thirty-fifth  year  of  the  reign  of 

5  King  Henry  the  Eighth,  intituled,  An  act  for  the  trial  of 
treasons  committed  out  of  the  king's  dominions." 

I  wish,  Sir,  to  repeal  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  because  (inde 
pendently  of  the  dangerous  precedent  of  suspending  the 
rights  of  the  subject  during  the  king's  pleasure)  it  was 

10  passed,  as  I  apprehend,  with  less  regularity,  and  on  more 
partial  principles,  than  it  ought.  The  corporation  of  Boston 
was  not  heard  before  it  was  condemned.  Other  towns,  full 
as  guilty  as  she  was,  have  not  had  their  ports  blocked  up. 
Even  the  restraining  bill  of  the  present  session  does  not  go 

15  to  the  length  of  the  Boston  Port  Act.  The  same  ideas  of 
prudence,  which  induced  you  not  to  extend  equal  punish 
ment  to  equal  guilt,  even  when  you  were  punishing,  induced 
me,  who  mean  not  to  chastise,  but  to  reconcile,  to  be  satis 
fied  with  the  punishment  already  partially  inflicted. 

20  Ideas  of  prudence  and  accommodation  to  circumstances, 
prevent  you  from  taking  away  the  charters  of  Connecticut 
and  Rhode  Island,  as  you  have  taken  away  that  of  Massa 
chusetts  colony,  though  the  crown  has  far  less  power  in  the 
two  former  provinces  than  it  enjoyed  in  the  latter;  and 

25  though  the  abuses  have  been  full  as  great,  and  as  flagrant, 
in  the  exempted  as  in  the  punished.  The  same  reasons  of 
prudence  and  accommodation  have  weight  with  me  in 
restoring  the  charter  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  Besides,  Sir, 
the  act  which  changes  the  charter  of  Massachusetts  is  in 

30  many  particulars  so  exceptionable,  that  if  I  did  not  wish 
absolutely  to  repeal,  I  would  by  all  means  desire  to  alter  it ; 


ON  CONCILIA  TION   WITH  AMERICA.  147 

as  several  of  its  provisions  tend  to  the  subversion  of  all  pub 
lic  and  private  justice.  Such,  among  others,  is  the  power 
in  the  governor  to  change  the  sheriff  at  his  pleasure  ;  and  to 
make  a  new  returning  officer  for  every  special  cause.  It  is 
shameful  to  behold  such  a  regulation  standing  among  Eng-  5 
lish  laws. 

The  act  for  bringing  persons  accused  of  committing  mur 
der  under  the  orders  of  government  to  England  for  trial  is 
but  temporary.  That  act  has  calculated  the  probable  dura 
tion  of  our  quarrel  with  the  colonies  ;  and  is  accommodated  10 
to  that  supposed  duration.  I  would  hasten  the  happy  mo 
ment  of  reconciliation ;  and  therefore  must,  on  my  princi 
ple,  get  rid  of  that  most  justly  obnoxious  act. 

The  act  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  for  the  trial  of  treasons,  I 
do  not  mean  to  take  away,  but  to  confine  it  to  its  proper  15 
bounds  and  original  intention ;  to  make  it  expressly  for  trial 
of  treasons  (and  the  greatest  treasons  may  be  committed) 
in  places  where  the  jurisdiction  of  the  crown  does  not  ex 
tend. 

Having  guarded  the  privileges  of  local  legislature,  I  would  20 
next  secure  to  the  colonies  a  fair  and  unbiassed  judicature ; 
for  which  purpose,  Sir,  I  propose  the  following  resolution  : 
"  That,  from  the  time  when  the  general  assembly  or  general 
court  of  any  colony  or  plantation  in  North  America,  shall 
have  appointed  by  act  of  assembly,  duly  confirmed,  a  settled  25 
salary  to  the  offices  of  the  chief  justice  and  other  judges  of 
the  superior  court,  it  may  be  proper  that  the  said  chief  jus 
tice  and  other  judges  of  the  superior  courts  of  such  colony, 
shall  hold  his  and  their  office  and  offices  during  their  good 
behaviour ;  and  shall  not  be  removed  therefrom,  but  when  30 
the  said  removal  shall  be  adjudged  by  his  Majesty  in  coun- 


148  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

cil,  upon  a  hearing  on  complaint  from  the  general  assembly, 
or  on  a  complaint  from  the  governor,  or  council,  or  the 
house  of  representatives  severally,  or  of  the  colony  in  which 
the  said  chief  justice  and  other  judges  have  exercised  the 

5    said  offices." 

The  next  resolution  relates  to  the  courts  of  admiralty. 
It  is  this  :  — "  That   it  may  be  proper  to  regulate  the 
courts  of  admiralty,   or  vice-admiralty,   authorized  by  the 
fifteenth  chapter  of  the  fourth  of  George  the  Third,  in  such 

10  a  manner  as  to  make  the  same  more  commodious  to  those 
who  sue,  or  are  sued,  in  the  said  courts,  and  to  provide  for 
the  more  decent  maintenance  of  the  judges  in  the  same." 

These  courts  I  do  not  wish  to  take  away;   they  are  in 
themselves  proper  establishments.     This  court  is  one  of  the 

15  capital  securities  of  the  act  of  navigation.  The  extent  of  its 
jurisdiction,  indeed,  has  been  increased;  but  this  is  alto 
gether  as  proper,  and  is  indeed  on  many  accounts  more  eli 
gible,  where  new  powers  were  wanted,  than  a  court  abso 
lutely  new.  But  courts  incommodiously  situated,  in  effect, 

20  deny  justice  ;  and  a  court,  partaking  in  the  fruits  of  its  own 
condemnation,  is  a  robber.  The  congress  complain,  and 
complain  justly,  of  this  grievance.1 

These  are  the  three  consequential  propositions.     I  have 
thought  of  two  or  three  more ;  but  they  come  rather  too 

25  near  detail,  and  to  the  province  of  executive  government ; 
which  I  wish  parliament  always  to  superintend,  never  to 
assume.  If  the  first  six  are  granted,  congruity  will  carry 
the  latter  three.  If  not,  the  things  that  remain  unrepealed 
will  be,  I  hope,  rather  unseemly  encumbrances  on  the  build- 

30  ing,  than  very  materially  detrimental  to  its  strength  and 
stability. 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  149 

Here,  Sir,  I  should  close  ;  but  I  plainly  perceive  some  ob 
jections  remain,  which  I  ought,  if  possible,  to  remove.  The 
first  will  be,  that,  in  resorting  to  the  doctrine  of  our  ancestors, 
as  contained  in  the  preamble  to  the  Chester  act,  I  prove  too 
much ;  that  the  grievance  from  a  want  of  representation,  5 
stated  in  that  preamble,  goes  to  the  whole  of  legislation  as 
well  as  to  taxation.  And  that  the  colonies,  grounding  them 
selves  upon  that  doctrine,  will  apply  it  to  all  parts  of  legisla 
tive  authority. 

To  this  objection,  with  all  possible  deference  and  humility,  10 
and  wishing  as  little  as  any  man  living  to  impair  the  small 
est  particle  of  our  supreme  authority,  I   answer,  that  the 
words  are  the  words  of  parliament,  and  not  mine  ;  and,  that 
all  false  and  inconclusive  inferences,  drawn  from  them,  are 
not  mine  ;  for  I  heartily  disclaim  any  such  inference.    I  have  15 
chosen  the  words  of  an  act  of  parliament,  which  Mr.  Gren- 
ville,  surely  a  tolerably  zealous  and  very  judicious  advocate 
for  the  sovereignty  of  parliament,  formerly  moved  to  have 
read  at  your  table  in  confirmation  of  his  tenets.     It  is  true, 
that  Lord  Chatham  considered  these  preambles  as  declaring  20 
strongly  in  favour  of  his  opinions.     He  was  a  no  less  power 
ful  advocate  for  the  privileges  of  the  Americans.     Ought  I 
not  from  hence   to  presume,  that  these  preambles  are  as 
favourable  as  possible  to  both,  when  properly  understood ; 
favourable  both  to  the  rights  of  parliament,  and  to  the  priv-  25 
ileges  of  the  dependencies  of  this  crown?     But,  Sir,  the  ob 
ject  of  grievance  in  my  resolution  I  have  not  taken  from  the 
Chester,  but  from  the  Durham  act,  which  confines  the  hard 
ship  of  want  of  representation  to  the  case  of  subsidies  ;  and 
which  therefore  falls  in  exactly  with  the  case  of  the  colonies.  30 
But  whether  the  unrepresented  counties  were  de  jure  or  de 


150  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

facto,  bound,  the  preambles  do  not  accurately  distinguish ; 
nor  indeed  was  it  necessary ;  for,  whether  dejure  or  de  facto, 
the  legislature  thought  the  exercise  of  the  power  of  taxing, 
as  of  right,  or  as  of  fact  without  right,  equally  a  grievance, 

5    and  equally  oppressive. 

I  do  not  know  that  the  colonies  have,  in  any  general  way, 
or  in  any  cool  hour,  gone  much  beyond  the  demand  of  im 
munity  in  relation  to  taxes.  It  is  not  fair  to  judge  of  the 
temper  or  dispositions  of  any  man,  or  any  set  of  men,  when 

10  they  are  composed  and  at  rest,  from  their  conduct,  or  their 
expressions,  in  a  state  of  disturbance  and  irritation.     It  is 
.  besides  a  very  great  mistake  to  imagine,  that  mankind  follow 
up  practically  any  speculative  principle,  either  of  govern 
ment  or  of  freedom,  as  far  as  it  will  go  in  argument  and 

15  logical  illation.  We  Englishmen  stop  very  short  of  the 
principles  upon  which  we  support  any  given  part  of  our  con 
stitution  ;  or  even  the  whole  of  it  together.  I  could  easily, 
if  I  had  not  already  tired  you,  give  you  very  striking  and 
convincing  instances  of  it.  This  is  nothing  but  what  is 

20  natural  and  proper.  All  government,  indeed  every  human 
benefit  and  enjoyment,  every  virtue,  and  every  prudent  act, 
is  founded  on  compromise  and  barter.  We  balance  incon 
veniences  ;  we  give  and  take ;  we  remit  some  rights  that  we 
may  enjoy  others ;  and  we  choose  rather  to  be  happy  citi- 

25  zens  than  subtle  disputants.  As  we  must  give  away  some 
natural  liberty,  to  enjoy  civil  advantages ;  so  we  must  sacri 
fice  some  civil  liberties,  for  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from 
the  communion  and  fellowship  of  a  great  empire.  But,  in  all 
fair  dealings,  the  thing  bought  must  bear  some  proportion  to 

3°  the  purchase  paid.  None  will  barter  away  the  immediate 
jewel  of  his  soul.1  Though  a  great  house  is  apt  to  make 


ON  CONCILIATION    WITH  AMERICA.  151 

slaves  haughty,  yet  it  is  purchasing  a  part  of  the  artificial 
importance  of  a  great  empire  too  dear,  to  pay  for  it  all  es 
sential  rights,  and  all  the  intrinsic  dignity  of  human  nature. 
None  of  us  who  would  not  risk  his  life  rather  than  fall  under 
a  government  purely  arbitrary.  But  although  there  are  5 
some  amongst  us  who  think  our  constitution  wants  many 
improvements,  to  make  it  a  complete  system  of  liberty ;  per 
haps  none  who  are  of  that  opinion  would  think  it  right  to 
aim  at  such  improvement,  by  disturbing  his  country,  and 
risking  everything  that  is  dear  to  him.  In  every  arduous  10 
enterprise,  we  consider  what  we  are  to  lose  as  well  as  what 
we  are  to  gain ;  and  the  more  and  better  stake  of  liberty 
every  people  possess,  the  less  they  will  hazard  in  a  vain  at 
tempt  to  make  it  more.  These  are  the  cords  of  man.  Man 
acts  from  adequate  motives  relative  to  his  interest ;  and  not  15 
on  metaphysical  speculations.  Aristotle,  the  great  master  of 
reasoning,  cautions  us,  and  with  great  weight  and  propriety, 
against  this  species  of  delusive  geometrical  accuracy  in  moral 
arguments,  as  the  most  fallacious  of  all  sophistry. 

The  Americans  will  have  no  interest  contrary  to  the  gran-  20 
deur  and  glory  of  England,  when  they  are  not  oppressed 
by  the  weight  of  it ;    and  they  will  rather  be  inclined  to 
respect  the  acts  of  a  superintending  legislature,  when  they 
see  them  the  acts  of  that  power,  which  is  itself  the  security, 
not  the  rival,  of  their  secondary  importance.     In  this  assur-  25 
ance,  my  mind  most  perfectly  acquiesces :   and  I  confess, 
I  feel  not  the  least  alarm  from  the  discontents  which  are  to 
arise  from  putting  people  at  their  ease ;  nor  do  I  apprehend 
the  destruction  of  this  empire,  from  giving,  by  an  act  of  free 
grace  and  indulgence,  to  two  millions  of  my  fellow-citizens  30 
some  share  of  those  rights,  upon  which  I  have  always  been 
taught  to  value  myself. 


152  ON   CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

It  is  said,  indeed,  that  this  power  of  granting,  vested  in 
American  assemblies,  would  dissolve  the  unity  of  the  empire  ; 
which  was  preserved  entire,  although  Wales,  and  Chester, 
and  Durham  were  added  to  it.  Truly,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  do 

5  not  know  what  this  unity  means  ;  nor  has  it  ever  been  heard 
of,  that  I  know,  in  the  constitutional  policy  of  this  country. 
The  very  idea  of  subordination  of  parts,  excludes  this  notion 
of  simple  and  undivided  unity.  England  is  the  head ;  but 
she  is  not  the  head  and  the  members  too.  Ireland  has  ever 

10  had  from  the  beginning  a  separate,  but  not  an  independent, 
legislature ;  which,  far  from  distracting,  promoted  the  union 
of  the  whole.  Everything  was  sweetly  and  harmoniously 
disposed  through  both  islands  for  the  conservation  of  English 
dominion,  and  the  communication  of  English  liberties.  I  do 

15  not  see  that  the  same  principles  might  not  be  carried  into 
twenty  islands,  and  with  the  same  good  effect.  This  is  my 
model  with  regard  to  America,  as  far  as  the  internal  circum 
stances  of  the  two  countries  are  the  same.  I  know  no  other 
unity  of  this  empire,  than  I  can  draw  from  its  example  dur- 

20  ing  these  periods,  when  it  seemed  to  my  poor  understanding 
more  united  than  it  is  now,  or  than  it  is  likely  to  be  by  the 
present  methods. 

But  since  I  speak  of  these  methods,  I  recollect,  Mr. 
Speaker,  almost  too  late,  that  I  promised,  before  I  finished, 

25  to  say  something  of  the  proposition  of  the  noble  lord l  on  the 
floor,  which  has  been  so  lately  received,  and  stands  on  your 
journals.  I  must  be  deeply  concerned,  whenever  it  is  my 
misfortune  to  continue  a  difference  with  the  majority  of  this 
House.  But  as  the  reasons  for  that  difference  are  my 

30  apology  for  thus  troubling  you,  suffer  me  to  state  them  in 
a  very  few  words.  I  shall  compress  them  into  as  small  a 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  153 

body  as  I  possibly  can,  having  already  debated  that  matter 
at  large,  when  the  question  was  before  the  committee. 

First,  then,  I  cannot  admit  that  proposition  of  a  ransom 
by  auction;  —  because  it  is  a  mere  project.     It  is  a  thing 
new;  unheard  of;  supported  by  no  experience;  justified  by    5 
no  analogy;  without  example  of  our  ancestors,  or  root  in 
the  constitution. 

It  is  neither  regular  parliamentary  taxation,  nor  colony 
grant.     Experimentum  in  corpore  vili}  is  a  good  rule,  which 
will  ever  make  me  adverse  to  any  trial  of  experiments  on  10 
what  is  certainly  the  most  valuable  of  all  subjects,  the  peace 
of  this  empire. 

Secondly,  it  is  an  experiment  which  must  be  fatal  in  the 
end  to  our  constitution.     For  what  is  it  but  a  scheme  for 
taxing  the  colonies  in  the  antechamber  of  the  noble  lord  and  15 
his  successors  ?    To  settle  the  quotas  and  proportions  in  this 
House,  is  clearly  impossible.     You,  Sir,  may  flatter  yourself 
you  shall  sit  a  state  auctioneer,  with  your  hammer  in  your 
hand,  and  knock  down  to  each  colony  as  it  bids.     But  to 
settle  (on  the  plan  laid  down  by  the  noble  lord)  the  true  20 
proportional  payment  for  four  or  five  and  twenty  govern 
ments,  according  to  the  absolute  and  the  relative  wealth  of 
each,  and  according  to  the  British  proportion  of  wealth  and 
burthen,  is  a  wild  and  chimerical  notion.     This  new  taxation 
must  therefore  come  in  by  the  back-door  of  the  constitution.2  25 
Each  quota  must  be  brought  to  this  House  rea'dy  formed ; 
you  can  neither  add  nor  alter.     You  must  register  it.     You 
can  do  nothing  further.     For  on  what  grounds  can  you  de 
liberate  either  before  or  after  the  proposition  ?    You  cannot 
hear  the  counsel  for  all  these  provinces,  quarrelling  each  on  30 
its  own  quantity  of  payment,  and  its  proportion  to  others. 


154  ON   CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

If  you  should  attempt  it,  the  committee  of  provincial  ways 
and  means,  or  by  whatever  other  name  it  will  delight  to  be 
called,  must  swallow  up  all  the  time  of  parliament. 

Thirdly,  it  does  not  give  satisfaction  to  the  complaint  of 

5  the  colonies.  They  complain,  that  they  are  taxed  without 
their  consent ;  you  answer,  that  you  will  fix  the  sum  at 
which  they  shall  be  taxed.  That  is,  you  give  them  the  very 
grievance  for  the  remedy.  You  tell  them  indeed,  that  you 
will  leave  the  mode  to  themselves.  I  really  beg  pardon  :  it 

10  gives  me  pain  to  mention  it ;  but  you  must  be  sensible  that 
you  will  not  perform  this  part  of  the  compact.  For,  sup 
pose  the  colonies  were  to  lay  the  duties,  which  furnished 
their  contingent,  upon  the  importation  of  your  manufac 
tures  ;  you  know  you  would  never  surfer  such  a  tax  to  be 

15  laid.  You  know,  too,  that  you  would  not  surfer  many  other 
modes  of  taxation.  So  that,  when  you  come  to  explain 
yourself,  it  will  be  found,  that  you  will  neither  leave  to 
themselves  the  quantum  nor  the  mode ;  nor  indeed  any 
thing.  The  whole  is  delusion  from  one  end  to  the  other. 

20  Fourthly,  this  method  of  ransom  by  auction,  unless  it  be 
universally  accepted,  will  plunge  you  into  great  and  inex 
tricable  difficulties.  In  what  year  of  our  Lord  are  the  pro 
portions  of  payments  to  be  settled  ?  To  say  nothing  of  the 
impossibility  that  colony  agents  should  have  general  powers 

25  of  taxing  the  colonies  at  their  discretion  ;  consider,  I  implore 
you,  that  the  communication  by  special  messages,  and  orders 
between  these  agents  and  their  constituents  on  each  variation 
of  the  case,  when  the  parties  come  to  contend  together,  and 
to  dispute  on  their  relative  proportions,  will  be  a  matter  of 

30  delay,  perplexity,  and  confusion  that  never  can  have  an 
end. 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  155 

If  all  the  colonies  do  not  appear  at  the  outcry,  what  is  the 
condition  of  those  assemblies,  who  offer  by  themselves  or 
their  agents,  to  tax  themselves  up  to  your  ideas  of  their  pro 
portion  ?  The  refractory  colonies,  who  refuse  all  composi 
tion,  will  remain  taxed  only  to  your  old  impositions,  which,  5 
however  grievous  in  principle,  are  trifling  as  to  production. 
The  obedient  colonies  in  this  scheme  are  heavily  taxed  ;  the 
refractory  remain  unburthened.  What  will  you  do?  Will 
you  lay  new  and  heavier  taxes  by  parliament  on  the  disobe 
dient?  Pray  consider  in  what  way  you  can  do  it.  You  are  10 
perfectly  convinced,  that,  in  the  way  of  taxing,  you  can  do 
nothing  but  at  the  ports.  Now  suppose  it  is  Virginia  that 
refuses  to  appear  at  your  auction,  while  Maryland  and  North 
Carolina  bid  handsomely  for  their  ransom,  and  are  taxed  to 
your  quota,  how  will  you  put  these  colonies  on  a  par?  Will  15 
you  tax  the  tobacco  of  Virginia?  If  you  do,  you  give  its 
death-wound  to  your  English  revenue  at  home,  and  to  one 
of  the  very  greatest  articles  of  your  own  foreign  trade.  If 
you  tax  the  import  of  that  rebellious  colony,  what  do  you 
tax  but  your  own  manufactures,  or  the  goods  of  some  other  20 
obedient  and  already  well-taxed  colony?  Who  has  said  one 
word  on  this  labyrinth  of  detail,  which  bewilders  you  more 
and  more  as  you  enter  into  it?  Who  has  presented,  who 
can  present  you  with  a  clue,  to  lead  you  out  of  it  ?  I  think, 
Sir,  it  is  impossible,  that  you  should  not  recollect  that  the  25 
colony  bounds  are  so  implicated  in  one  another,  (you  know 
it  by  your  other  experiments  in  the  bill  for  prohibiting  the 
New  England  fishery,)  that  you  can  lay  no  possible  restraints 
on  almost  any  of  them  which  may  not  be  presently  eluded, 
if  you  do  not  confound  the  innocent  with  the  guilty,  and  30 
burthen  those  whom,  upon  every  principle,  you  ought  to 


156  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

exonerate.  He  must  be  grossly  ignorant  of  America,  who 
thinks  that,  without  falling  into  this  confusion  of  all  rules  of 
equity  and  policy,  you  can  restrain  any  single  colony,  espe 
cially  Virginia  and  Maryland,  the  central  and  most  impor- 

5    tant  of  them  all. 

Let  it  also  be  considered,  that,  either  in  the  present  con 
fusion  you  settle  a  permanent  contingent,  which  will  and 
must  be  trifling ;  and  then  you  have  no  effectual  revenue : 
or  you  change  the  quota  at  every  exigency ;  and  then  on 

10  every  new  repartition  you  will  have  a  new  quarrel. 

Reflect  besides,  that  when  you  have  fixed  a  quota  for  every 
colony,  you  have  not  provided  for  prompt  and  punctual  pay 
ment.  Suppose  one,  two,  five,  ten  years'  arrears.  You  can 
not  issue  a  treasury  extent  against  the  failing  colony.1  You 

15  must  make  new  Boston  Port  Bills,  new  restraining  laws,  new 
acts  for  dragging  men  to  England  for  trial.  You  must  send 
out  new  fleets,  new  armies.  All  is  to  begin  again.  From 
this  day  forward  the  empire  is  never  to  know  an  hour's  tran 
quillity.  An  intestine  fire  will  be  kept  alive  in  the  bowels  of 

20  the  colonies,  which  one  time  or  other  must  consume  this 
whole  empire.  I  allow  indeed  that  the  empire  of  Germany 
raises  her  revenue  and  her  troops  by  quotas  and  contin 
gents  ;  but  the  revenue  of  the  empire,  and  the  army  of  the 
empire,  is  the  worst  revenue  and  the  worst  army  in  the 

25  world. 

Instead  of  a  standing  revenue,  you  will  therefore  have  a 
perpetual  quarrel.  Indeed  the  noble  lord,  who  proposed 
this  project  of  a  ransom  by  auction,  seemed  himself  to  be  of 
that  opinion.  His  project  was  rather  designed  for  breaking 

30  the  union  of  the  colonies,  than  for  establishing  a  revenue. 
He  confessed,  he  apprehended  that  his  proposal  would  not 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  157 

be  to  their  taste.  I  say,  this  scheme  of  disunion  seems  to  be 
at  the  bottom  of  the  project ;  for  I  will  not  suspect  that  the 
noble  lord  meant  nothing  but  merely  to  delude  the  nation 
by  an  airy  phantom  which  he  never  intended  to  realize. 
But  whatever  his  views  may  be ;  as  I  propose  the  peace  and  5 
union  of  the  colonies  as  the  very  foundation  of  my  plan,  it 
cannot  accord  with  one  whose  foundation  is  perpetual  dis 
cord. 

Compare  the  two.     This  I  offer  to  give  you  is  plain  and 
simple.     The  other  full  of  perplexed  and  intricate  mazes.   10 
This  is  mild;    that   harsh.     This   is  found   by  experience 
effectual  for  its  purposes  ;  the  other  is  a  new  project.     This 
is  universal ;    the  other  calculated  for  certain  colonies  only. 
This  is  immediate  in  its  conciliatory  operation ;  the  other 
remote,  contingent,  full  of  hazard.     Mine  is  what  becomes  15 
the  dignity  of  a  ruling  people ;    gratuitous,  unconditional, 
and  not  held  out  as  matter  of  bargain  and  sale.     I  have 
done  my  duty  in  proposing  it  to  you.     I  have  indeed  tired 
you  by  a  long  discourse  ;  but  this  is  the  misfortune  of  those 
to  whose  influence  nothing  will  be  conceded,  and  who  must  20 
win  every  inch  of  their  ground  by  argument.     You  have 
heard  me  with  goodness.     May  you  decide  with  wisdom  ! 
For  my  part,  I  feel  my  mind  greatly  disburthened  by  what  I 
have  done  to-day.     I  have  been  the  less  fearful  of  trying 
your  patience,  because  on  this  subject  I  mean  to  spare  it  25 
altogether  in  future.      I  have  this  comfort,  that  in  every 
stage  of  the  American  affairs,  I  have  steadily  opposed  the 
measures  that  have  produced  the  confusion,  and  may  bring 
on  the  destruction,  of  this  empire.     I  now  go  so  far  as  to 
risk  a  proposal  of  my  own.     If  I  cannot  give  peace  to  my  30 
country,  I  give  it  to  my  conscience. 


158  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

But  what  (says  the  financier)  is  peace  to  us  without 
money?  Your  plan  gives  us  no  revenue.  No  !  But  it  does 
—  For  it  secures  to  the  subject  the  power  of  REFUSAL ; 
the  first  of  all  revenues.  Experience  is  a  cheat,  and  fact  a 

5  liar,  if  this  power  in  the  subject  of  proportioning  his  grant, 
or  if  not  granting  at  all,  has  not  been  found  the  richest  mine 
of  revenue  ever  discovered  by  the  skill  or  by  the  fortune  of 
man.  It  does  not  indeed  vote  you  ,£152,750:  n  :  2|ths, 
nor  any  other  paltry  limited  sum.  —  But  it  gives  the  strong 

10  box  itself,  the  fund,  the  bank,  from  whence  only  revenues 
can  arise  amongst  a  people  sensible  of  freedom  :  Posita 
luditur  area}  Cannot  you  in  England ;  cannot  you  at  this 
time  of  day ;  cannot  you,  a  House  of  Commons,  trust  to  the 
principle  which  has  raised  so  mighty  a  revenue,  and  accu- 

15  mulated  a  debt  of  near  140  millions  in  this  country?  Is 
this  principle  to  be  true  in  England,  and  false  everywhere 
else  ?  Is  it  not  true  in  Ireland  ?  Has  it  not  hitherto  been 
true  in  the  colonies?  Why  should  you  presume,  that,  in 
any  country,  a  body  duly  constituted  for  any  function,  will 

20  neglect  to  perform  its  duty,  and  abdicate  its  trust?  Such  a 
presumption  would  go  against  all  governments  in  all  modes. 
But,  in  truth,  this  dread  of  penury  of  supply,  from  a  free 
assembly,  has  no  foundation  in  nature.  For  first  observe, 
that,  besides  the  desire  which  all  men  have  naturally  of  sup- 

25  porting  the  honour  of  their  own  government,  that  sense  of 
dignity,  and  that  security  to  property,  which  ever  attends 
freedom,  has  a  tendency  to  increase  the  stock  of  the  free 
community.  Most  may  be  taken  where  most  is  accumulated. 
And  what  is  the  soil  or  climate  where  experience  has  not 

30  uniformly  proved,  that  the  voluntary  flow  of  heaped-up  plenty, 
bursting  from  the  weight  of  its  own  rich  luxuriance,  has  ever 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  159 

run  with  a  more  copious  stream  of  revenue,  than  could  be 
squeezed  from  the  dry  husks  of  oppressed  indigence,  by  the 
straining  of  all  the  politic  machinery  in  the  world. 

Next  we  know,  that  parties  must  ever  exist  in  a  free  coun 
try.     We  know,  too,   that  the  emulations  of  such  parties,    5 
their  contradictions,  their  reciprocal  necessities,  their  hopes, 
and  their  fears,  must  send  them  all  in  their  turns  to  him  that 
holds  the  balance  of  the  state.    The  parties  are  the  gamesters ; 
but  government  keeps  the  table,  and  is  sure  to  be  the  winner 
in  the  end.     When  this  game  is  played,  I  really  think  it  is  10 
more  to  be  feared  that  the  people  will  be  exhausted,  than 
that  government  will  not  be  supplied.     Whereas,  whatever 
is  got  by  acts  of  absolute  power  ill  obeyed,  because  odious, 
or  by  contracts  ill  kept,  because  constrained,  will  be  narrow, 
feeble,   uncertain,   and   precarious.     "Ease   would  retract  15 
vows  made  in  pain,  as  violent  and  void"  1 

I,  for  one,  protest  against  compounding  our  demands  :  I 
declare  against  compounding  for  a  poor  limited  sum,  the 
immense,  overgrowing,  eternal  debt,2  which  is  due  to  gen 
erous  government  from  protected  freedom.  And  so  may  I  20 
speed  in  the  great  object  I  propose  to  you,  as  I  think  it 
would  not  only  be  an  act  of  injustice,  but  would  be  the 
worst  economy  in  the  world,  to  compel  the  colonies  to  a 
sum  certain,  either  in  the  way  of  ransom,  or  in  the  way  of 
compulsory  compact.  25 

But  to  clear  up  my  ideas  on  this  subject  —  a  revenue  from 
America  transmitted  hither — do  not  delude  yourselves  — 
you  never  can  receive  it  —  No,  not  a  shilling.  We  have 
experience  that  from  remote  countries  it  is  not  to  be  ex 
pected.  If,  when  you  attempted  to  extract  revenue  from  30 
Bengal,  you  were  obliged  to  return  in  loan  what  you  had 


160  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

taken  in  imposition;  what  can  you  expect  from  North 
America?  For  certainly,  if  ever  there  was  a  country  quali 
fied  to  produce  wealth,  it  is  India ;  or  an  institution  fit  for 
the  transmission,  it  is  the  East  India  Company.  America 

5  has  none  of  these  aptitudes.  If  America  gives  you  taxable 
objects,  on  which  you  lay  your  duties  here,  and  gives  you, 
at  the  same  time,  a  surplus  by  a  foreign  sale  of  her  com 
modities  to  pay  the  duties  on  these  objects,  which  you  tax 
at  home,  she  has  performed  her  part  to  the  British  revenue. 

jo  But  with  regard  to  her  own  internal  establishments ;  she 
may,  I  doubt  not  she  will,  contribute  in  moderation.  I 
say  in  moderation ;  for  she  ought  not  to  be  permitted  to 
exhaust  herself.  She  ought  to  be  reserved  to  a  war ;  the 
weight  of  which,  with  the  enemies  that  we  are  most  likely 

15  to  have,  must  be  considerable  in  her  quarter  of  the  globe. 
There  she  may  serve  you,  and  serve  you  essentially. 

For  that  service,  for  all  service,  whether  of  revenue,  trade, 
or  empire,  my  trust  is  in  her  interest  in  the  British  consti 
tution.  My  hold  of  the  colonies  is  in  the  close  affection 

20  which  grows  from  common  names,  from  kindred  blood,  from 
similar  privileges,  and  equal  protection.  These  are  ties, 
which,  though  light  as  air,  are  as  strong  as  links  of  iron. 
Let  the  colonies  always  keep  the  idea  of  their  civil  rights 
associated  with  your  government ;  —  they  will  cling  and 

25  grapple  to  you ;  and  no  force  under  heaven  will  be  of 
power  to  tear  them  from  their  allegiance.  But  let  it  be 
once  understood,  that  your  government  may  be  one  thing, 
and  their  privileges  another ;  that  these  two  things  may 
exist  without  any  mutual  relation  ;  the  cement  is  gone  ;  the 

30  cohesion  is  loosened ;  and  everything  hastens  to  decay  anci 
dissolution.  As  long  as  you  have  the  wisdom  to  keep  the 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  161 

sovereign  authority  of  this  country  as  the  sanctuary  of 
liberty,  the  sacred  temple  consecrated  to  our  common  faith, 
wherever  the  chosen  race  and  sons  of  England  worship 
freedom,  they  will  turn  their  faces  towards  you.1  The  more 
they  multiply,  the  more  friends  you  will  have ;  the  more  5 
ardently  they  love  liberty,  the  more  perfect  will  be  their 
obedience.  Slavery  they  can  have  anywhere.  It  is  a  weed 
that  grows  in  every  soil.  They  may  have  it  from  Spain,  they 
may  have  it  from  Prussia.  But,  until  you  become  lost  to  all 
feeling  of  your  true  interest  and  your  natural  dignity,  free-  10 
dom  they  can  have  from  none  but  you.  This  is  the  com 
modity  of  price,  of  which  you  have  the  monopoly.  This  is 
the  true  act  of  navigation,  which  binds  to  you  the  commerce 
of  the  colonies,  and  through  them  secures  to  you  the  wealth 
of  the  world.  Deny  them  this  participation  of  freedom,  and  15 
you  break  that  sole  bond,  which  originally  made,  and  must 
still  preserve,  the  unity  of  the  empire.  Do  not  entertain  so 
weak  an  imagination,  as  that  your  registers  and  your  bonds, 
your  affidavits  and  your  sufferances,  your  cockets  and  your 
clearances,  are  what  form  the  great  securities  of  your  com-  20 
merce.  Do  not  dream  that  your  letters  of  office,  and  your 
instructions,  and  your  suspending  clauses,  are  the  things 
that  hold  together  the  great  contexture  of  the  mysterious 
whole.  These  things  do  not  make  your  government.  Dead 
instruments,  passive  tools  as  they  are,  it  is  the  spirit  of  the  25 
English  communion  that  gives  all  their  life  and  efficacy  to 
them.  It  is  the  spirit  of  the  English  constitution,  which,  in 
fused  through  the  mighty  mass,  pervades,  feeds,  unites, 
invigorates,  vivifies  every  part  of  the  empire,  even  down  to 
the  minutest  member.2  3o 

Is  it  not  the  same  virtue  which  does  everything  for  us 


162  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

here  in  England?  Do  you  imagine  then,  that  it  is  the  land 
tax  act  which  raises  your  revenue  ?  that  it  is  the  annual  vote 
in  the  committee  of  supply  which  gives  you  your  army  ?  or 
that  it  is  the  mutiny  bill  which  inspires  it  with  bravery  and 

5  discipline  ?  No  !  surely  no  !  It  is  the  love  of  the  people  ; 
it  is  their  attachment  to  their  government,  from  the  sense  of 
the  deep  stake  they  have  in  such  a  glorious  institution, 
which  gives  you  your  army  and  your  navy,  and  infuses  into 
both  that  liberal  obedience,  without  which  your  army  would 

10  be  a  base  rabble,  and  your  navy  nothing  but  rotten  timber. 

All  this,  I  know  well  enough,  will  sound  wild  and  chimeri 
cal  to  the  profane  herd  of  those  vulgar  and  mechanical  poli 
ticians,  who  have  no  place  among  us ;  a  sort  of  people  who 
think  that  nothing  exists  but  what  is  gross  and  material; 

15  and  who  therefore,  far  from  being  qualified  to  be  directors 
of  the  great  movement  of  empire,  are  not  fit  to  turn  a  wheel 
in  the  machine.  But  to  men  truly  initiated  and  rightly 
taught,  these  ruling  and  master  principles,  which,  in  the 
opinion  of  such  men  as  I  have  mentioned,  have  no  substan- 

20  tial  existence,  are  in  truth  everything,  and  all  in  all.  Mag 
nanimity  in  politics  is  not  seldom  the  truest  wisdom ;  and  a 
great  empire  and  little  minds  go  ill  together.  If  we  are  con 
scious  of  our  situation,  and  glow  with  zeal  to  fill  our  place 
as  becomes  our  station  and  ourselves,  we  ought  to  auspicate 

25  all  our  public  proceedings  on  America  with  the  old  warning 
of  the  church,  Sursum  corda!  l  We  ought  to  elevate  our 
minds  to  the  greatness  of  that  trust  to  which  the  order  of 
Providence  has  called  us.  By  adverting  to  the  dignity  of 
this  high  calling,  our  ancestors  have  turned  a  savage  wil- 

30  derness  into  a  glorious  empire;  and  have  made  the  most 
extensive,  and  the  only  honourable  conquests,  not  by  destroy- 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  163 

ing,  but  by  promoting  the  wealth,  the  number,  the  happiness 
of  the  human  race.  Let  us  get  an  American  revenue  as  we 
have  got  an  American  empire.  English  privileges  have  made 
it  all  that  it  is ;  English  privileges  alone  will  make  it  all  it 
can  be.  5 

In  full  confidence  of  this  unalterable  truth,  I  now  {quod 
felix  faustumque  sit1)  lay  the  first  stone  of  the  temple  of 
peace  ;  and  I  move  you, 

"That  the  colonies  and  plantations  of  Great  Britain  in 
North  America,  consisting  of  fourteen  separate  governments,  10 
and  containing  two  millions  and  upwards  of  free  inhabitants, 
have  not  had  the  liberty  and  privilege  of  electing  and  send 
ing  any  knights  and  burgesses,  or  others,  to  represent  them 
in  the  high  court  of  parliament." 

Upon  this  resolution,  the  previous  question  was  put,  and  15 
carried;  —  for  the  previous  question  270,  against  it  78. 

As  the  propositions  were  opened  separately  in  the  body 
of  the  speech,  the  reader  perhaps  may  wish  to  see  the  whole 
of  them  together,  in  the  form  in  which  they  were  moved  for. 

"Moved,  That  the  colonies  and  plantations  of  Great  2o 
Britain  in  North  America,  consisting  of  fourteen  separate 
governments,  and  containing  two  millions  and  upwards  of 
free  inhabitants,  have  not  had  the  liberty  and  privilege  of 
electing  and  sending  any  knights  and  burgesses,  or  others, 
to  represent  them  in  the  high  court  of  parliament."  25 

"  That  the  said  colonies  and  plantations  have  been  made 
liable  to,  and  bounden  by,  several  subsidies,  payments,  rates, 
and  taxes,  given  and  granted  by  parliament;  though  the 
said  colonies  and  plantations  have  not  their  knights  and  bur- 


164  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

gesses,  in  the  said  high  court  of  parliament,  of  their  own 
election,  to  represent  the  condition  of  their  country;  by 
lack  whereof,  they  have  been  oftentimes  touched  and  grieved 
by  subsidies  given,  granted,  and  assented  to,  in  the  said  court, 

5  in  a  manner  prejudicial  to  the  commonwealth,  quietness, 
rest,  and  peace,  of  the  subjects  inhabiting  within  the  same." 

"  That,  from  the  distance  of  the  said  colonies,  and  from 
other  circumstances,  no  method  hath  hitherto  been  devised 
for  procuring  a  representation  in  parliament  for  the  said 

10  colonies." 

"  That  each  of  the  said  colonies  hath  within  itself  a  body, 
chosen,  in  part  or  in  the  whole,  by  the  freemen,  freeholders, 
or  other  free  inhabitants  thereof,  commonly  called  the  gen 
eral  assembly,  or  general  court ;  with  powers  legally  to  raise, 

15  levy,  and  assess,  according  to  the  several  usage  of  such 
colonies,  duties  and  taxes  towards  defraying  all  sorts  of  pub 
lic  services."  * 

"  That  the  said  general  assemblies,  general  courts,  or  other 
bodies,  legally  qualified  as  aforesaid,  have  at  sundry  times 

20  freely  granted  several  large  subsidies  and  public  aids  for  his 
Majesty's  service,  according  to  their  abilities,  when  required 
thereto  by  letter  from  one  of  his  Majesty's  principal  secre 
taries  of  state ;  and  that  their  right  to  grant  the  same,  and 
their  cheerfulness  and  sufficiency  in  the  said  grants,  have 

25  been  at  sundry  times  acknowledged  by  parliament." 

"  That  it  hath  been  found  by  experience,  that  the  manner 
of  granting  the  said  supplies  and  aids,  by  the  said  general 
assemblies,  hath  been  more  agreeable  to  the  inhabitants  of 
the  said  colonies,  and  more  beneficial  and  conducive  to  the 

30  public  service,  than  the  mode  of  giving  and  granting  aids  and 
subsidies  in  parliament  to  be  raised  and  paid  in  the  said 
colonies." 


ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA.  165 

"  That  it  may  be  proper  to  repeal  an  act,  made  in  the 
seventh  year  of  the  reign  of  his  present  Majesty,  intituled, 
An  act  for  granting  certain  duties  in  the  British  colonies  and 
plantations  in  America ;  for  allowing  a  drawback  of  the 
duties  of  customs,  upon  the  exportation  from  this  kingdom,  5 
of  coffee  and  cocoa-nuts,  of  the  produce  of  the  said  colonies 
or  plantations  ;  for  discontinuing  the  drawbacks  payable  on 
China  earthenware  exported  to  America ;  and  for  more  ef 
fectually  preventing  the  clandestine  running  of  goods  in  the 
said  colonies  and  plantations."  10 

"That  it  may  be  proper  to  repeal  an  act  made  in  the 
fourteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  his  present  Majesty,  intituled, 
An  act  to  discontinue,  in  such  manner,  and  for  such  time,  as 
are  therein  mentioned,  the  landing  and  discharging,  lading  or 
shipping  of  goods,  wares,  and  merchandise,  at  the  town,  and  15 
within  the  harbour,  of  Boston,  in  the  province  of  Massachu 
setts  Bay,  in  North  America." 

"That  it  may  be  proper  to  repeal  an  act,  made  in  the 
fourteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  his  present  Majesty,  intituled, 
An  act  for  the  impartial  administration  of  justice,  in  cases  of  20 
persons  questioned  for  any  acts  done  by  them  in  the  execu 
tion  of  the  law,  or  for  the  suppression  of  riots  and  tumults, 
in  the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New  England." 

"  That  it  is  proper  to  repeal  an  act,  made  in  the  fourteenth 
year  of  the  reign  of  his  present  Majesty,  intituled,  An  act  25 
for  the  better  regulating  the  government  of  the  province  of 
Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New  England." 

"  That  it  is  proper  to  explain  and  amend  an  act  made  in 
the  thirty-fifth  year  of  the  reign  of  King  Henry  VIII.,  in 
tituled,  An  act  for  the  trial  of  treasons  committed  out  of  the  30 
king's  dominions." 


166  ON  CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICA. 

"  That,  from  the  time  when  the  general  assembly,  or  gen 
eral  court,  of  any  colony  or  plantation,  in  North  America, 
shall  have  appointed,  by  act  of  assembly  duly  confirmed,  a 
settled  salary  to  the  offices  of  the  chief  justice  and  judges  of 

5  the  superior  courts,  it  may  be  proper  that  the  said  chief 
justice  and  other  judges  of  the  superior  courts  of  such  colony 
shall  hold  his  and  their  office  and  offices  during  their  good 
behaviour ;  and  shall  not  be  removed  therefrom,  but  when 
the  said  removal  shall  be  adjudged  by  his  Majesty  in  council, 

10  upon  a  hearing  on  complaint  from  the  general  assembly,  or 

on  a  complaint  from  the  governor,  or  council,  or  the  house 

of  representatives,  severally,  of  the  colony  in  which  the  said 

chief  justice  and  other  judges  have  exercised  the  said  office." 

"  That  it  may  be  proper  to  regulate  the  courts  of  admiralty, 

15  or  vice-admiralty,  authorized  by  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  the 
fourth  of  George  III.,  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  make  the  same 
more  commodious  to  those  who  sue,  or  are  sued,  in  the  said 
courts  ;  and  to  provide  for  the  more  decent  maintenance  of 
the  judges  of  the  same." 


A   LETTER 

TO 

JOHN  FARR  AND  JOHN   HARRIS,   ESQRS., 
SHERIFFS  OF  THE  CITY  OF  BRISTOL, 

ON  THE  AFFAIRS  OF  AMERICA. 

1777. 


GENTLEMEN  :  I  have  the  honour  of  sending  you  the  two 
last  acts  which  have  been  passed  with  regard  to  the  troubles 
in  America.  These  acts  are  similar  to  all  the  rest  which 
have  been  made  on  the  same  subject.  They  operate  by  the 
same  principle ;  and  they  are  derived  from  the  very  same  5 
policy.  I  think  they  complete  the  number  of  this  sort  of 
statutes  to  nine.  It  affords  no  matter  for  very  pleasing 
reflection  to  observe  that  our  subjects  diminish  as  our  laws 
increase. 

If  I  have  the  misfortune  of  differing  with  some  of  my  to 
fellow-citizens  on  this  great  and  arduous  subject,  it  is  no 
small  consolation  to  me  that  I  do  not  differ  from  you.    With 
you  I  am  perfectly  united.     We  are  heartily  agreed  in  our 
detestation  of  a  civil  war.     We  have  ever  expressed  the 
most  unqualified  disapprobation,  of  all  the  steps  which  have  15 
led  to  it,  and  of  all  those  which,  tend  to  prolong  it.     And  I 
have  no  doubt  that  we  feel  exactly  the  same  emotions  of 
grief  and  shame  in  all  its  miserable  consequences ;  whether  . 
they  appear,  on  the  one  side  or  the  other,  in  the  shape  of 

167 


168         LETTER    TO    THE   SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

victories  or  defeats,  of  captures  made  from  the  English  on 
the  continent,  or  from  the  English  in  these  islands ;  of  legis 
lative  regulations  which  subvert  the  liberties  of  our  brethren, 
or  which  undermine  our  own. 

5  Of  the  first  of  these  statutes  (that  for  the  letter  of  marque)1 
I  shall  say  little.  Exceptionable  as  it  may  be,  and  as  I  think 
it  is  in  some  particulars,  it  seems  the  natural,  perhaps  neces 
sary,  result  of  the  measures  we  have  taken,  and  the  situation 
we  are  in.  The  other  (for  a  partial  suspension  of  the  Habeas 

10  Corpus^  appears  to  me  of  a  much  deeper  malignity.  Dur 
ing  its  progress  through  the  House  of  Commons,  it  has  been 
amended,  so  as  to  express,  more  distinctly  than  at  first  it 
did,  the  avowed  sentiments  of  those  who  framed  it :  and  the 
main  ground  of  my  exception  to  it  is,  because  it  does  express, 

15  and  does  carry  into  execution,  purposes  which  appear  to  me 
so  contradictory  to  all  the  principles,  not  only  of  the  consti 
tutional  policy  of  Great  Britain,  but  even  of  that  species  of 
hostile  justice,  which  no  asperity  of  war  wholly  extinguishes 
in  the  minds  of  a  civilized  people. 

20  It  seems  to  have  in  view  two  capital  objects  ;  the  first,  to 
enable  administration  to  confine,  as  long  as  it  shall  think 
proper,  those  whom  that  act  is  pleased  to  qualify  by  the 
name  of  pirates.  Those  so  qualified  I  understand  to  be  the 
commanders  and  mariners  of  such  privateers  and  ships  of 

25  war  belonging  to  the  colonies,  as  in  the  course  of  this  un 
happy  contest  may  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  crown.  They 
are  therefore  to  be  detained  in  prison,  under  the  criminal 
description  of  piracy,  to  a  future  trial  and  ignominious  pun 
ishment,  whenever  circumstances  shall  make  it  convenient 

30  to  execute  vengeance  on  them,  under  the  colour  of  that 
odious  and  infamous  offence. 


ON   THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  169 

To  this  first  purpose  of  the  law  I  have  no  small  dislike; 
because  the  act  does  not  (as  all  laws  and  all  equitable  trans 
actions  ought  to  do)  fairly  describe  its  object.  The  persons 
who  make  a  naval  war  upon  us,  in  consequence  of  the  present 
troubles,  may  be  rebels  ;  but  to  call  and  treat  them  as  pirates,  5 
is  confounding,  not  only  the  natural  distinction  of  things,  but 
the  order  of  crimes  :  which,  whether  by  putting  them  from  a 
higher  part  of  the  scale  to  the  lower,  or  from  the  lower  to 
the  higher,  is  never  done  without  dangerously  disordering 
the  whole  frame  of  jurisprudence.  Though  piracy  may  be,  10 
in  the  eye  of  the  law,  a  less  offence  than  treason ;  yet  as 
both  are,  in  effect,  punished  with  the  same  death,  the  same 
forfeiture,  and  the  same  corruption  of  blood,  I  never  would 
take  from  any  fellow-creature  whatever  any  sort  of  advantage 
which  he  may  derive  to  his  safety  from  the  pity  of  mankind,  15 
or  to  his  reputation  from  their  general  feelings,  by  degrad 
ing  his  offence,  when  I  cannot  soften  his  punishment.  The 
general  sense  of  mankind  tells  me,  that  those  offences,  which 
may  possibly  arise  from  mistaken  virtue,  are  not  in  the  class 
of  infamous  actions.  Lord  Coke,  the  oracle  of  the  English  20 
law,  conforms  to  that  general  sense  where  he  says,  that 
"  those  things  which  are  of  the  highest  criminality  may  be 
of  the  least  disgrace."  The  act  prepares  a  sort  of  masked 
proceeding,  not  honourable  to  the  justice  of  the  kingdom, 
and  by  no  means  necessary  for  its  safety.  I  cannot  enter  25 
into  it.  If  Lord  Balmerino,1  in  the  last  rebellion,  had  driven 
off  the  cattle  of  twenty  clans,  I  should  have  thought  it  would 
have  been  a  scandalous  and  low  juggle,  utterly  unworthy  of 
the  manliness  of  an  English  judicature,  to  have  tried  him 
for  felony  as  a  stealer  of  cows.  30 

Besides,  I  must  honestly  tell  you,  that  I  could  not  vote  for, 


170          LETTER    TO    THE  SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

or  countenance  in  any  way,  a  statute,  which  stigmatizes  with 
the  crime  of  piracy  these  men,  whom  an  act  of  parliament 
had  previously  put  out  of  the  protection  of  the  law.  When 
the  legislature  of  this  kingdom  had  ordered  all  their  ships 

5  and  goods,  for  the  mere  new-created  offence  of  exercising 
trade,  to  be  divided  as  a  spoil  among  the  seamen  of  the  navy,1 
—  to  consider  the  necessary  reprisal  of  an  unhappy,  pro 
scribed,  interdicted  people,  as  the  crime  of  piracy,  would 
have  appeared,  in  any  other  legislature  than  ours,  a  strain  of 

10  the  most  insulting  and  most  unnatural  cruelty  and  injustice. 
I  assure  you  I  never  remember  to  have  heard  of  anything 
like  it  in  any  time  or  country. 

„  The  second  professed  purpose  of  the  act  is,  to  detain  in 
England  for  trial  those  who  shall  commit  high  treason  in 

15  America. 

That  you  may  be  enabled  to  enter  into  the  true  spirit  of 
the  present  law,  it  is  necessary,  gentlemen,  to  apprize  you, 
that  there  is  an  act,  made  so  long  ago  as  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  the  Eighth,  before  the  existence  or  thought  of  any 

20  English  colonies  in  America,  for  the  trial  in  this  kingdom  of 
treasons  committed  out  of  the  realm.  In  the  year  1769,  par 
liament  thought  proper  to  acquaint  the  crown  with  their 
construction  of  that  act  in  a  formal  address,  wherein  they 
entreated  his  Majesty  to  cause  persons,  charged  with  high 

25  treason  in  America,  to  be  brought  into  this  kingdom  for 
trial.  By  this  act  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  so  construed  and 
so  applied,  almost  all  that  is  substantial  and  beneficial  in  a 
trial  by  a  jury  is  taken  away  from  the  subject  in  the  colonies.2 
This  is  however  saying  too  little ;  for  to  try  a  man  under 
•30  that  act  is,  in  effect,  to  condemn  him  unheard.  A  person  is 
brought  hither  in  the  dungeon  of  a  ship's  hold ;  thence  he 


ON   THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  171 

is  vomited  into  a  dungeon  on  land  ;  loaded  with  irons,  unfur 
nished  with  money,  unsupported  by  friends,  three  thousand 
miles  from  all  means  of  calling  upon  or  confronting  evidence, 
where  no  one  local  circumstance  that  tends  to  detect  perjury, 
can  possibly  be  judged  of;  —  such  a  person  may  be  executed  5 
according  to  form,  but  he  can  never  be  tried  according  to 
justice. 

I  therefore  could  never  reconcile  myself  to  the  bill  I  send 
you ;  which  is  expressly  provided  to  remove  all  inconven 
iences  from  the  establishment  of  a  mode  of  trial,  which  has  10 
ever  appeared  to  me  most  unjust  and  most  unconstitutional. 
Far  from  removing  the  difficulties  which  impede  the  execu 
tion  of  so  mischievous  a  project,  I  would  heap  new  difficulties 
upon  it,  if  it  were  in  my  power.     All  the  ancient,  honest, 
juridical  principles  and  institutions  of  England  are  so  many  15 
clogs  to  check  and  retard  the  headlong  course  of  violence 
and  oppression.      They  were  invented  for  this  one  good 
purpose,  that  what  was  not  just  should  not  be  convenient. 
Convinced  of  this,  I  would  leave  things  as  I  found  them. 
The  old,  cool-headed,  general  law,  is  as  good  as  any  devia-  20 
tion  dictated  by  present  heat. 

I  could  see  no  fair,  justifiable  expedience  pleaded  to  favour 
this  new  suspension  of  the  liberty  of  the  subject.     If  the 
English  in  the  colonies  can  support  the  independency,  to 
which  they  have  been  unfortunately  driven,  I  suppose  no-  25 
body  has  such  a  fanatical  zeal  for  the  criminal  justice  of 
Henry  the  Eighth,  that  he  will  contend  for  executions  which 
must  be  retaliated  tenfold  on  his  own  friends ;  or  who  has 
conceived  so  strange  an  idea  of  English  dignity,  as  to  think 
the  defeats  in  America  compensated  by  the  triumphs  at  Ty-  3o 
burn.1     If,  on  the  contrary,  the  colonies  are  reduced  to  the 


172  LETTER    TO    THE   SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

obedience  of  the  crown,  there  must  be,  under  that  authority, 
tribunals  in  the  country  itself,  fully  competent  to  administer 
justice  on  all  offenders.  But  if  there  are  not,  and  that  we 
must  suppose  a  thing  so  humiliating  to  our  government,  as 

5  that  all  this  vast  continent  should  unanimously  concur  in 
thinking,  that  no  ill  fortune  can  convert  resistance  to  the 
royal  authority  into  a  criminal  act,  we  may  call  the  effect  of 
our  victory  peace,  or  obedience,  or  what  we  will ;  but  the 
war  is  not  ended ;  the  hostile  mind  continues  in  full  vigour, 

10  and  it  continues  under  a  worse  form.  If  your  peace  be 
nothing  more  than  a  sullen  pause  from  arms ;  if  their  quiet 
be  nothing  but  the  meditation  of  revenge,  where  smitten  pride 
smarting  from  its  wounds  festers  into  new  rancour ;  neither 
the  act  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  nor  its  handmaid  of  this  reign, 

15  will  answer  any  wise  end  of  policy  or  justice.  For  if  the 
bloody  fields,  which  they  saw  and  felt,  are  not  sufficient  to 
subdue  the  reason  of  America,  (to  use  the  expressive  phrase 
of  a  great  lord  in  office,)  it  is  not  the  judicial  slaughter, 
which  is  made  in  another  hemisphere  against  their  universal 

20  sense  of  justice,  that  will  ever  reconcile  them  to  the  British 
government. 

I  take  it  for  granted,  gentlemen,  that  we  sympathize  in  a 
proper  horror  of  all  punishment  further  than  as  it  serves  for 
an  example.  To  whom  then  does  the  example  of  an  execu- 

25  tion  in  England  for  this  American  rebellion  apply  ?  Remem 
ber,  you  are  told  every  day,  that  the  present  is  a  contest 
between  the  two  countries ;  and  that  we  in  England  are  at 
war  for  our  own  dignity  against  our  rebellious  children.  Is 
this  true  ?  If  it  be,  it  is  surely  among  such  rebellious  chil- 

3o  dren  that  examples  for  disobedience  should  be  made,  to  be 
in  any  degree  instructive  :  for  whoever  thought  of  teaching 


ON   THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  173 

parents  their  duty  by  an  example  from  the  punishment  of  an 
undutiful  son?  As  well  might  the  execution  of  a  fugitive 
negro  in  the  plantations  be  considered  as  a  lesson  to  teach 
masters  humanity  to  their  slaves.  Such  executions  may  in 
deed  satiate  our  revenge  ;  they  may  harden  our  hearts,  and  5 
puff  us  up  with  pride  and  arrogance.  Alas  !  this  is  not 
instruction  ! 

If  anything  can  be  drawn  from  such  examples  by  a  parity 
of  the  case,  it  is  to  show  how  deep  their  crime  and  how 
heavy  their  punishment  will  be,  who  shall  at  any  time  dare  10 
to  resist  a  distant  power  actually  disposing  of  their  property, 
without  their  voice  or  consent  to  the  disposition ;  and  over 
turning  their  franchises  without  charge  or  hearing.  God  for 
bid  that  England  should  ever  read  this  lesson  written  in  the 
blood  of  any  of  her  offspring  !  15 

War  is  at  present  carried  on  between  the  king's  natural 
and  foreign  troops *  on  one  side,  and  the  English  in  America 
on  the  other,  upon  the  usual  footing  of  other  wars ;  and  ac 
cordingly  an  exchange  of  prisoners  has  been  regularly  made 
from  the  beginning.  If  notwithstanding  this  hitherto  equal  2o 
procedure,  upon  some  prospect  of  ending  the  war  with  suc 
cess,  (which  however  may  be  delusive,)  administration  pre 
pares  to  act  against  those  as  traitors  who  remain  in  their 
hands  at  the  end  of  the  troubles,  in  my  opinion  we  shall 
exhibit  to  the  world  as  indecent  a  piece  of  injustice  as  ever  25 
civil  fury  has  produced.  If  the  prisoners,  who  have  been 
exchanged,  have  not  by  that  exchange  been  virtually  par 
doned,  the  cartel  (whether  avowed  or  understood)  is  a  cruel 
fraud ;  for  you  have  received  the  life  of  a  man,  and  you 
ought  to  return  a  life  for  it,  or  there  is  no  parity  of  fairness  30 
in  the  transaction. 


174          LETTER    TO    THE   SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  admit,  that  they  who  are  actually 
exchanged  are  pardoned,  but  contend  that  you  may  justly 
reserve  for  vengeance  those  who  remain  unexchanged  ;  then 
this  unpleasant  and  unhandsome  consequence  will  follow; 
5  that  you  judge  of  the  delinquency  of  men  merely  by  the 
time  of  their  guilt,  and  not  by  the  heinousness  of  it ;  and 
you  make  fortune  and  accidents,  and  not  the  moral  qualities 
of  human  action,  the  rule  of  your  justice. 

These  strange  incongruities  must  ever  perplex  those  who 
10  confound  the  unhappiness  of  civil  dissensions  with  the  crime 
of  treason.     Whenever  a  rebellion  really  and  truly  exists, 
which  is  as  easily  known  in  fact  as  it  is  difficult  to  define  in 
words,  government  has  not  entered  into  such  military  con 
ventions  ;  but  has  ever  declined  all  intermediate  treaty,  which 
15  should  put  rebels  in  possession  of  the  law  of  nations  with 
regard  to  war.     Commanders  would  receive  no  benefits  at 
their  hands,  because  they  could  make  no  return  for  them. 
Who  has  ever  heard  of  capitulation,  and  parole  of  honour, 
and  exchange  of  prisoners,  in  the  late  rebellions  in  this  king- 
so  dom  ?    The  answer  to  all  demands  of  that  sort  was,  "  We 
can  engage  for  nothing;  you  are  at  the  king's  pleasure." 
We  ought  to  remember,  that  if  our  present  enemies  be,  in 
reality  and  truth,  rebels,  the  king's  generals  have  no  right  to 
release  them  upon  any  conditions  whatsoever ;  and  they  are 
25  themselves  answerable  to  the  law,  and  as  much  in  want  of  a 
pardon  for  doing  so,  as  the  rebels  whom  they  release. 

Lawyers,  I  know,  cannot  make  the  distinction  for  which  I 
contend  ;  because  they  have  their  strict  rule  to  go  by.     But 
legislators  ought  to  do  what  lawyers  cannot ;  for  they  have 
3o  no  other  rules  to  bind  them,  but  the  great  principles  of  rea 
son  and  equity,  and  the  general  sense  of  mankind.     These 


ON  THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  175 

they  are  bound  to  obey  and  follow ;  and  rather  to  enlarge 
and  enlighten  law  by  the  liberality  of  legislative  reason,  than 
to  fetter  and  bind  their  higher  capacity  by  the  narrow  con 
structions  of  subordinate,  artificial  justice.  If  we  had  adverted 
to  this,  we  never  could  consider  the  convulsions  of  a  great  5 
empire,  not  disturbed  by  a  little  disseminated  faction,  but 
divided  by  whole  communities  and  provinces,  and  entire  legal 
representatives  of  a  people,  as  fit  matter  of  discussion  under 
a  commission  of  Oyer  and  Terminer.1  It  is  as  opposite  to 
reason  and  prudence,  as  it  is  to  humanity  and  justice.  10 

This  act,  proceeding  on  these  principles,  that  is,  preparing 
to  end  the  present  troubles  by  a  trial  of  one  sort  of  hostility 
under  the  name  of  piracy,  and  of  another  by  the  name  of 
treason,  and  executing  the  act  of  Henry  the  Eighth  accord 
ing  to  a  new  and  unconstitutional  interpretation,  I  have  15 
thought  evil  and  dangerous,  even  though  the  instruments  of 
effecting  such  purposes  had  been  merely  of  a  neutral  quality. 

But  it  really  appears  to  me,  that  the  means  which  this  act 
employs  are,  at  least,  as  exceptionable  as  the  end.  Permit 
me  to  open  myself  a  little  upon  this  subject,  because  it  is  of  20 
importance  to  me,  when  I  am  obliged  to  submit  to  the  power 
without  acquiescing  in  the  reason  of  an  act  of  legislature, 
that  I  should  justify  my  dissent  by  such  arguments  as  may 
be  supposed  to  have  weight  with  a  sober  man. 

The  main  operative  regulation  of  the  act  is  to  suspend  25 
the  common  law,  and  the  statute  Habeas  Corpus,  (the  sole 
securities  either  for  liberty  or  justice,)  with  regard  to  all  those 
who  have  been  out  of  the  realm,  or  on  the  high  seas,  within 
a  given  time.  The  rest  of  the  people,  as  I  understand,  are 
to  continue  as  they  stood  before.  30 

I  confess,  gentlemen,  that  this  appears  to  me  as  bad  in  the 


176  LETTER    TO    THE  SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

principle,  and  far  worse  in  its  consequence,  than  an  universal 
suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  act ;  and  the  limiting  quali 
fication,  instead  of  taking  out  the  sting,  does  in  my  humble 
opinion  sharpen  and  envenom  it  to  a  greater  degree.  Liberty, 

5  if  I  understand  it  at  all,  is  a  general  principle,  and  the  clear 
right  of  all  the  subjects  within  the  realm,  or  of  none.  Partial 
freedom  seems  to  me  a  most  invidious  mode  of  slavery.  But, 
unfortunately,  it  is  the  kind  of  slavery  the  most  easily  admitted 
in  times  of  civil  discord ;  for  parties  are  but  too  apt  to  forget 

10  their  own  future  safety  in  their  desire  of  sacrificing  their 
enemies.  People  without  much  difficulty  admit  the  entrance 
of  that  injustice  of  which  they  are  not  to  be  the  immediate 
victims.  In  times  of  high  proceeding  it  is  never  the  faction 
of  the  predominant  power  that  is  in  danger  :  for  no  tyranny 

15  chastises  its  own  instruments.  It  is  the  obnoxious  and  the 
suspected  who  want  the  protection  of  law ;  and  there  is 
nothing  to  bridle  the  partial  violence  of  state  factions,  but 
this ;  "  that  whenever  an  act  is  made  for  a  cessation  of  law 
and  justice,  the  whole  people  should  be  universally  subjected 

20  to  the  same  suspension  of  their  franchises."  The  alarm  of 
such  a  proceeding  would  then  be  universal.  It  would  operate 
as  a  sort  of  Call  of  the  nation.  It  would  become  every  man's 
immediate  and  instant  concern  to  be  made  very  sensible  of 
the  absolute  necessity  of  this  total  eclipse  of  liberty.  They 

25  would  more  carefully  advert  to  every  renewal,  and  more  pow 
erfully  resist  it.  These  great  determined  measures  are  not 
commonly  so  dangerous  to  freedom.  They  are  marked  with 
too  strong  lines  to  slide  into  use.  No  plea,  nor  pretence,  of 
inconvenience  or  evil  example  (which  must  in  their  nature 

30  be  daily  and  ordinary  incidents)  can  be  admitted  as  a 
reason  for  such  mighty  operations.  But  the  true  danger  is, 


ON  THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  177 

when  liberty  is  nibbled  away,  for  expedients,  and  by  parts. 
The  Habeas  Corpus  act  supposes,  contrary  to  the  genius  of 
most  other  laws,  that  the  lawful  magistrate  may  see  particular 
men  with  a  malignant  eye,  and  it  provides  for  that  identical 
case.  But  when  men,  in  particular  descriptions,  marked  out  5 
by  the  magistrate  himself,  are  delivered  over  by  parliament 
to  this  possible  malignity,  it  is  not  the  Habeas  Corpus  that 
is  occasionally  suspended,  but  its  spirit  that  is  mistaken,  and 
its  principle  that  is  subverted.  Indeed  nothing  is  security  to 
any  individual  but  the  common  interest  of  all.  10 

This  act,  therefore,  has  this  distinguished  evil  in  it,  that  it 
is  the  first  partial  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  that  has 
been  made.  The  precedent,  which  is  always  of  very  great 
importance,  is  now  established.  For  the  first  time  a  distinc 
tion  is  made  among  the  people  within  this  realm.  Before  15 
this  act,  every  man  putting  his  foot  on  English  ground,  every 
stranger  owing  only  a  local  and  temporary  allegiance,  even 
negro  slaves  who  had  been  sold  in  the  colonies  and  under 
an  act  of  parliament,  became  as  free  as  every  other  man 
who  breathed  the  same  air  with  them.  Now  a  line  is  drawn,  20 
which  may  be  advanced  farther  and  farther  at  pleasure,  on 
the  same  argument  of  mere  expedience,  on  which  it  was 
first  described.  There  is  no  equality  among  us ;  we  are  not 
fellow-citizens,  if  the  mariner,  who  lands  on  the  quay,  does 
not  rest  on  as  firm  legal  ground  as  the  merchant  who  sits  in  25 
his  counting-house.  Other  laws  may  injure  the  community, 
this  dissolves  it.  As  things  now  stand,  every  man  in  the 
West  Indies,  every  one  inhabitant  of  three  unoffending  prov 
inces  on  the  continent,  every  person  coming  from  the  East 
Indies,  every  gentleman  who  has  travelled  for  his  health  or  30 
education,  every  mariner  who  has  navigated  the  seas,  is,  for 


178          LETTER    TO    THE   SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

no  other  offence,  under  a  temporary  proscription.  Let  any 
of  these  facts  (now  become  presumptions  of  guilt)  be  proved 
against  him,  and  the  bare  suspicion  of  the  crown  puts  him 
out  of  the  law.  It  is  even  by  no  means  clear  to  me,  whether 

5  the  negative  proof  does  not  lie  upon  the  person  apprehended 
on  suspicion,  to  the  subversion  of  all  justice. 

I  have  not  debated  against  this  bill  in  its  progress  through 
the  House ;  because  it  would  have  been  vain  to  oppose,  and 
impossible  to  correct  it.  It  is  some  time  since  I  have  been 

10  clearly  convinced,  that  in  the  present  state  of  things  all 
opposition  to  any  measures  proposed  by  ministers,  where 
the  name  of  America  appears,  is  vain  and  frivolous.  You 
may  be  sure  that  I  do  not  speak  of  my  opposition,  which 
in  all  circumstances  must  be  so ;  but  that  of  men  of  the 

15  greatest  wisdom  and  authority  in  the  nation.  Everything 
proposed  against  America  is  supposed  of  course  to  be  in 
favour  of  Great  Britain.  Good  and  ill  success  are  equally 
admitted  as  reasons  for  persevering  in  the  present  methods. 
Several  very  prudent,  and  very  well-intentioned,  persons  were 

20  of  opinion,  that  during  the  prevalence  of  such  dispositions, 
all  struggle  rather  inflamed  than  lessened  the  distemper  of 
the  public  councils.  Finding  such  resistance  to  be  consid 
ered  as  factious  by  most  within-doors,  and  by  very  many 
without,  I  cannot  conscientiously  support  what  is  against  my 

25  opinion,  nor  prudently  contend  with  what  I  know  is  irresist 
ible.  Preserving  my  principles  unshaken,  I  reserve  my 
activity  for  rational  endeavours ;  and  I  hope  that  my  past 
conduct  has  given  sufficient  evidence  that  if  I  am  a  single 
day  from  my  place,  it  is  not  owing  to  indolence  or  love  of 

30  dissipation.  The  slightest  hope  of  doing  good  is  sufficient 
to  recall  me  to  what  I  quitted  with  regret.  In  declining  for 


ON   THE   AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  179 

some  time  my  usual  strict  attendance,  I  do  not  in  the  least 
condemn  the  spirit  of  those  gentlemen,  who,  with  a  just 
confidence  in  their  abilities,  (in  which  I  claim  a  sort  of  share 
from  my  love  and  admiration  of  them,)  were  of  opinion  that 
their  exertions  in  this  desperate  case  might  be  of  some  ser-  5 
vice.  They  thought,  that  by  contracting  the  sphere  of  its 
application,  they  might  lessen  the  malignity  of  an  evil  prin 
ciple.  Perhaps  they  were  in  the  right.  But  when  my  opin 
ion  was  so  very  clearly  to  the  contrary,  for  the  reasons  I 
have  just  stated,  I  am  sure  my  attendance  would  have  been  10 
ridiculous.1 

I  must  add  in  further  explanation  of  my  conduct,  that,  far 
from  softening  the  features  of  such  a  principle,  and  thereby 
removing  any  part  of  the  popular  odium  or  natural  terrors 
attending  it,  I  should  be  sorry  that  anything  framed  in  con-  15 
tradiction  to  the  spirit  of  our  constitution  did  not  instantly 
produce,  in  fact,  the  grossest  of  the  evils  with  which  it  was 
pregnant  in  its  nature.  It  is  by  lying  dormant  a  long  time, 
or  being  at  first  very  rarely  exercised,  that  arbitrary  power 
steals  upon  a  people.  On  the  next  unconstitutional  act,  all  20 
the  fashionable  world  will  be  ready  to  say — Your  prophecies 
are  ridiculous,  your  fears  are  vain,  you  see  how  little  of  the 
mischiefs  which  you  formerly  foreboded  are  come  to  pass. 
Thus,  by  degrees,  that  artful  softening  of  all  arbitrary  power, 
the  alleged  infrequency  or  narrow  extent  of  its  operation,  25 
will  be  received  as  a  sort  of  aphorism  —  and  Mr.  Hume  will 
not  be  singular  in  telling  us  that  the  felicity  of  mankind  is 
no  more  disturbed  by  it,  than  by  earthquakes  or  thunder,  or 
the  other  more  unusual  accidents  of  nature. 

The  act  of  which   I   speak  is  among  the   fruits   of  the  30 
American  war ;  a  war  in  my  humble  opinion  productive  of 


180          LETTER    TO    THE   SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

many  mischiefs,  of  a  kind  which  distinguish  it  from  all 
others.  Not  only  our  policy  is  deranged,  and  our  empire 
distracted,  but  our  laws  and  our  legislative  spirit  appear  to 
have  been  totally  perverted  by  it.  We  have  made  war  on 

5  our  colonies,  not  by  arms  only,  but  by  laws.  As  hostility 
and  law  are  not  very  concordant  ideas,  every  step  we  have 
taken  in  this  business  has  been  made  by  trampling  on  some 
maxim  of  justice,  or  some  capital  principle  of  wise  govern 
ment.  What  precedents  were  established,  and  what  prin- 

10  ciples  overturned,  (I  will  not  say  of  English  privilege,  but 
of  general  justice,)  in  the  Boston  Port,  the  Massachusetts 
Charter,  the  Military  Bill,1  and  all  that  long  array  of  hostile 
acts  of  parliament,  by  which  the  war  with  America  has  been 
begun  and  supported  !  Had  the  principles  of  any  of  these 

15  acts  been  first  exerted  on  English  ground,  they  would  prob 
ably  have  expired  as  soon  as  they  touched  it.  But  by  being 
removed  from  our  persons,  they  have  rooted  in  our  laws, 
and  the  latest  posterity  will  taste  the  fruits  of  them. 

Nor  is  it  the  worst   effect  of  this  unnatural  contention, 

20  that  our  laws  are  corrupted.  Whilst  manners  remain  entire, 
they  will  correct  the  vices  of  law,  and  soften  it  at  length  to 
their  own  temper.  But  we  have  to  lament,  that  in  most  of 
the  late  proceedings  we  'see  very  few  traces  of  that  gener 
osity,  humanity,  and  dignity  of  mind,  which  formerly  char- 

25  acterized  this  nation.  War  suspends  the  rules  of  moral 
obligation,  and  what  is  long  suspended  is  in  danger  of  being 
totally  abrogated.  Civil  wars  strike  deepest  of  all  into  the 
manners  of  the  people.  They  vitiate  their  politics;  they 
corrupt  their  morals ;  they  pervert  even  the  natural  taste 

30  and  relish  of  equity  and  justice.  By  teaching  us  to  consider 
our  fellow-citizens  in  a  hostile  light,  the  whole  body  of  our 


ON   THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  181 

nation  becomes  gradually  less  dear  to  us.  The  very  names 
of  affection  and  kindred,  which  were  the  bond  of  charity 
whilst  we  agreed,  become  new  incentives  to  hatred  and 
rage,  when  the  communion  of  our  country  is  dissolved.  We 
may  flatter  ourselves  that  we  shall  not  fall  into  this  misfor-  5 
tune.  But  we  have  no  charter  of  exemption,  that  I  know 
of,  from  the  ordinary  frailties  of  our  nature. 

What  but  that  blindness  of  heart  which  arises  from  the 
phrensy  of  civil  contention,  could  have  made  any  persons 
conceive  the  present  situation  of  the  British  affairs  as  an  10 
object  of  triumph  to  themselves,  or  of  congratulation  to 
their  sovereign?     Nothing  surely  could  be  more  lamentable 
to  those  who  remember  the  flourishing  days  of  this  kingdom, 
than  to  see  the  insane  joy  of  several  unhappy  people,  amidst 
the  sad  spectacle  which  our  affairs  and  conduct  exhibit  to  15 
the  scorn  of  Europe.    We  behold  (and  it  seems  some  people 
rejoice  in  beholding)  our  native  land,  which  used  to  sit  the 
envied  arbiter  of  all  her  neighbours,  reduced  to  a  servile 
dependence  on  their  mercy;   acquiescing  in  assurances  of 
friendship  which  she  does  not  trust ;  complaining  of  hostil-  20 
ities  which  she  dares  not  resent ;  deficient  to  her  allies  ;  lofty 
to  her  subjects,  and  submissive  to  her  enemies;1  whilst  the 
liberal  government  of  this  free  nation  is  supported  by  the 
hireling  sword  of  German  boors  and  vassals ;  and  three  mil 
lions  of  the  subjects  of  Great  Britain  are  seeking  for  protec-  25 
tion  to  English  privileges  in  the  arms  of  France  ! 2 

These  circumstances  appear  to  me  more   like  shocking 
prodigies,  than  natural  changes  in  human  affairs.     Men  of 
firmer  minds  may  see  them  without  staggering  or  astonish 
ment.  —  Some  may  think  them  matters  of  congratulation  and  30 
complimentary  addresses ;  but  I  trust  your  candour  will  be 


182          LETTER    TO    THE  SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

so  indulgent  to  my  weakness,  as  not  to  have  the  worse  opin 
ion  of  me  for  my  declining  to  participate  in  this  joy,  and 
my  rejecting  all  share  whatsoever  in  such  a  triumph.  I  am 
too  old,  too  stiff  in  my  inveterate  partialities,  to  be  ready  at 

5  all  the  fashionable  evolutions  of  opinion.  I  scarcely  know 
how  to  adapt  my  mind  to  the  feelings  with  which  the  court 
gazettes  mean  to  impress  the  people.  It  is  not  instantly 
that  I  can  be  brought  to  rejoice,  when  I  hear  of  the  slaughter 
and  captivity  of  long  lists  of  those  names  which  have  been 

10  familiar  to  my  ears  from  my  infancy,  and  to  rejoice  that 
they  have  fallen  under  the  sword  of  strangers,  whose  barbar 
ous  appellations  I  scarcely  know  how  to  pronounce.  The 
glory  acquired  at  the  White  Plains  by  Colonel  Raille  has  no 
charms  for  me ;  and  I  fairly  acknowledge,  that  I  have  not 

15  yet  learned  to  delight  in  finding  Fort  Kniphausen  in  the 
heart  of  the  British  dominions.1 

It  might  be  some  consolation  for  the  loss  of  our  old 
regards,  if  our  reason  were  enlightened  in  proportion  as 
our  honest  prejudices  are  removed.  Wanting  feelings  for 

20  the  honour  of  our  country,  we  might  then  in  cold  blood  be 
brought  to  think  a  little  of  our  interests  as  individual  citizens, 
and  our  private  conscience  as  moral  agents. 

Indeed  our  affairs  are  in  a  bad  condition.  I  do  assure 
those  gentlemen  who  have  prayed  for  war,  and  have  obtained 

25  the  blessing  they  have  sought,  that  they  are  at  this  instant 
in  very  great  straits.  The  abused  wealth  of  this  country 
continues  a  little  longer  to  feel  its  distemper.  As  yet  they, 
and  their  German  allies  of  twenty  hireling  states,2  have  con 
tended  only  with  the  unprepared  strength  of  our  own  infant 

30  colonies.  But  America  is  not  subdued.  Not  one  unattacked 
village  which  was  originally  adverse  throughout  that  vast 


ON  THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  183 

continent,  has  yet  submitted  from  love  or  terror.  You  have 
the  ground  you  encamp  on ;  and  you  have  no  more.  The 
cantonments  of  your  troops  and  your  dominions  are  exactly 
of  the  same  extent.  You  spread  devastation,  but  you  do 
not  enlarge  the  sphere  of  authority.  5 

The  events  of  this  war  are  of  so  much  greater  magnitude 
than  those  who  either  wished  or  feared  it  ever  looked  for, 
that  this  alone  ought  to  fill  every  considerate  mind  with 
anxiety  and  diffidence.  Wise  men  often  tremble  at  the  very 
things  which  fill  the  thoughtless  with  security.  For  many  10 
reasons  I  do  not  choose  to  expose  to  public  view  all  the 
particulars  of  the  state  in  which  you  stood  with  regard  to 
foreign  powers,  during  the  whole  course  of  the  last  year. 
Whether  you  are  yet  wholly  out  of  danger  from  them,  is 
more  than  I  know,  or  than  your  rulers  can  divine.  But  15 
even  if  I  were  certain  of  my  safety,  I  could  not  easily  for 
give  those  who  had  brought  me  into  the  most  dreadful 
perils,  because  by  accidents,  unforeseen  by  them  or  me,  I 
have  escaped. 

Believe  me,  gentlemen,  the  way  still  before  you  is  intricate,  20 
dark,  and  full  of  perplexed  and  treacherous  mazes.     Those 
who  think  they  have  the  clue  may  lead  us  out  of  this  laby 
rinth.     We  may  trust  them  as  amply  as  we  think  proper; 
but  as  they  have   most  certainly  a  call  for  all  the  reason 
which  their  stock  can  furnish,  why  should  we  think  it  proper  25 
to  disturb  its  operation  by  inflaming  their  passions  ?     I  may 
be  unable  to  lend  an  helping  hand  to  those  who  direct  the 
state ;  but  I  should  be  ashamed  to  make  myself  one  of  a 
noisy  multitude  to  halloo  and  hearten  them  into  doubtful 
and  dangerous   courses.      A  conscientious    man  would  be  30 
cautious  how  he  dealt  in  blood.     He  would  feel  some  ap- 


184          LETTER    TO    THE   SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

prehension  at  being  called  to  a  tremendous  account  for 
engaging  in  so  deep  a  play,  without  any  sort  of  knowledge 
of  the  game.  It  is  no  excuse  for  presumptuous  ignorance, 
that  it  is  directed  by  insolent  passion.  The  poorest  being 

5  that  crawls  on  earth,  contending  to  save  itself  from  injustice 
and  oppression,  is  an  object  respectable  in  the  eyes  of  God 
and  man.  But  I  cannot  conceive  any  existence  under 
heaven,  (which,  in  the  depths  of  its  wisdom,  tolerates  all 
sorts  of  things,)  that  is  more  truly  odious  and  disgusting, 

10  than  an  impotent,  helpless  creature,  without  civil  wisdom  or 
military  skill,  without  a  consciousness  of  any  other  qualifica 
tion  for  power  but  his  servility  to  it,  bloated  with  pride  and 
arrogance,  calling  for  battles  which  he  is  not  to  fight,  con 
tending  for  a  violent  dominion  which  he  can  never  exercise, 

15  and  satisfied  to  be  himself  mean  and  miserable,  in  order  to 
render  others  contemptible  and  wretched. 

If  you  and  I  find  our  talents  not  of  the  great  and  ruling 
kind,  our  conduct,  at  least,  is  conformable  to  our  faculties. 
No  man's  life  pays  the  forfeit  of  our  rashness.  No  desolate 

20  widow  weeps  tears  of  blood  over  our  ignorance.  Scrupulous 
and  sober  in  our  well-grounded  distrust  of  ourselves,  we 
would  keep  in  the  port  of  peace  and  security ;  and  perhaps 
in  recommending  to  others  something  of  the  same  diffidence, 
we  should  show  ourselves  more  charitable  in  their  welfare, 

25  than  injurious  to  their  abilities. 

There  are  many  circumstances  in  the  zeal  shown  for  civil 
war,  which  seem  to  discover  but  little  of  real  magnanimity. 
The  addressers  offer  their  own  persons,  and  they  are  satis 
fied  with  hiring  Germans.  They  promise  their  private  for- 

30  tunes,  and  they  mortgage  their  country.  They  have  all  the 
merit  of  volunteers,  without  risk  of  person  or  charge  of  con- 


ON   THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  185 

tribution ;  and  when  the  unfeeling  arm  of  a  foreign  soldiery 
pours  out  their  kindred  blood  like  water,  they  exult  and  tri 
umph  as  if  they  themselves  had  performed  some  notable 
exploit.  I  am  really  ashamed  of  the  fashionable  language 
which  has  been  held  for  some  time  past ;  which,  to  say  the  5 
best  of  it,  is  full  of  levity.  You  know  that  I  allude  to  the 
general  cry  against  the  cowardice  of  the  Americans,  as  if  we 
despised  them  for  not  making  the  king's  soldiery  purchase 
the  advantage  they  have  obtained  at  a  dearer  rate.1  It  is 
not,  gentlemen,  it  is  not  to  respect  the  dispensations  of  Provi-  10 
dence,  nor  to  provide  any  decent  retreat  in  the  mutability 
of  human  affairs.  It  leaves  no  medium  between  insolent 
victory  and  infamous  defeat.  It  tends  to  alienate  our  minds 
farther  and  farther  from  our  natural  regards,  and  to  make 
an  eternal  rent  and  schism  in  the  British  nation.  Those  15 
who  do  not  wish  for  such  a  separation,  would  not  dissolve 
that  cement  of  reciprocal  esteem  and  regard,  which  can 
alone  bind  together  the  parts  of  this  great  fabric.  It  ought 
to  be  our  wish,  as  it  is  our  duty,  not  only  to  forbear  this 
style  of  outrage  ourselves,  but  to  make  every  one  as  sensi-  20 
ble  as  we  can  of  the  impropriety  and  unworthiness  of  the 
tempers  which  give  rise  to  it,  and  which  designing  men  are 
labouring  with  such  malignant  industry  to  diffuse  amongst 
us.  It  is  our  business  to  counteract  them,  if  possible ;  if 
possible,  to  awake  our  natural  regards ;  and  to  revive  the  25 
old  partiality  to  the  English  name.  Without  something  of 
this  kind  I  do  not  see  how  it  is  ever  practicable  really  to 
reconcile  with  those,  whose  affection,  after  all,  must  be  the 
surest  hold  of  our  government ;  and  which  is  a  thousand 
times  more  worth  to  us,  than  the  mercenary  zeal  of  all  the  30 
circles  of  Germany. 


186          LETTER    TO    THE   SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

I  can  well  conceive  a  country  completely  overrun,  and 
miserably  wasted,  without  approaching  in  the  least  to  settle 
ment.  In  my  apprehension,  as  long  as  English  government 
is  attempted  to  be  supported  over  Englishmen  by  the  sword 

5  alone,  things  will  thus  continue.  I  anticipate  in  my  mind 
the  moment  of  the  final  triumph  of  foreign  military  force. 
When  that  hour  arrives,  (for  it  may  arrive,)  then  it  is,  that 
all  this  mass  of  weakness  and  violence  will  appear  in  its  full 
light.  If  we  should  be  expelled  from  America,  the  delusion 

10  of  the  partisans  of  military  government  might  still  continue. 
They  might  still  feed  their  imaginations  with  the  possible 
good  consequences  which  might  have  attended  success. 
Nobody  could  prove  the  contrary  by  facts.  But  in  case  the 
sword  should  do  all  that  the  sword  can  do,  the  success  of 

15  their  arms  and  the  defeat  of  their  policy  will  be  one  and  the 
same  thing.  You  will  never  see  any  revenue  from  America. 
Some  increase  of  the  means  of  corruption,  without  ease  of 
the  public  burthens,  is  the  very  best  that  can  happen.  Is  it 
for  this  that  we  are  at  war ;  and  in  such  a  war  ? 

20  As  to  the  difficulties  of  laying  once  more  the  foundations 
of  that  government,  which,  for  the  sake  of  conquering  what 
was  our  own,  has  been  voluntarily  and  wantonly  pulled  down 
by  a  court  faction  here,  I  tremble  to  look  at  them.  Has  any 
of  these  gentlemen,  who  are  so  eager  to  govern  all  mankind, 

25  showed  himself  possessed  of  the  first  qualification  towards 
government,  some  knowledge  of  the  object,  and  of  the  diffi 
culties  which  occur  in  the  task  they  have  undertaken  ? 

I  assure  you,  that,  on  the  most  prosperous  issue  of  your 
arms,  you  will  not  be  where  you  stood,  when  you  called  in 

30  war  to  supply  the  defects  of  your  political  establishment. 
Nor  would  any  disorder  or  disobedience  to  government 


ON   THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  187 

which  could  arise  from  the  most  abject  concession  on  our 
part,  ever  equal  those  which  will  be  felt,  after  the  most 
triumphant  violence.  You  have  got  all  the  intermediate 
evils  of  war  into  the  bargain. 

I  think  I  know  America.1     If  I  do  not,  my  ignorance  is    5 
incurable,  for  I  have  spared  no  pains  to  understand  it :  and 
I  do  most  solemnly  assure  those  of  my  constituents  who  put 
any  sort  of  confidence  in  my  industry  and  integrity,  that 
every  thing  that  has  been  done  there  has  arisen  from  a  total 
misconception  of  the  object;  that  our  means  of  originally  10 
holding  America,  that  our  means  of  reconciling  with  it  after 
quarrel,  of  recovering  it  after  separation,  of  keeping  it  after 
victory,  did  depend,  and  must  depend  in  their  several  stages 
and  periods,  upon  a  total  renunciation  of  that  unconditional 
submission,  which  has  taken  such  possession  of  the  minds  15 
of  violent  men.     The  whole  of  those  maxims,  upon  which 
we  have  made  and  continued  this  war,  must  be  abandoned. 
Nothing  indeed  (for  I  would  not  deceive  you)  can  place  us 
in  our  former  situation.     That  hope  must  be  laid  aside. 
But  there  is  a  difference  between  bad  and  the  worst  of  all.  20 
Terms  relative  to  the  cause  of  the  war  ought  to  be  offered 
by  the  authority  of  parliament.     An  arrangement  at  home 
promising  some  security  for  them  ought  to  be  made.     By 
doing  this,  without  the  least  impairing  of  our  strength,  we 
add  to  the  credit  of  our  moderation,  which,  in  itself,  is  25 
always  strength  more  or  less. 

I  know  many  have  been  taught  to  think,  that  moderation, 
in  a  case  like  this,  is  a  sort  of  treason ;  and  that  all  argu 
ments  for  it  are  sufficiently  answered  by  railing  at  rebels  and 
rebellion,  and  by  charging  all  the  present  or  future  miseries,  30 
which  we  may  suffer,  on  the  resistance  of  our  brethren.    But 


188          LETTER    TO    THE   SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

I  would  wish  them,  in  this  grave  matter,  and  if  peace  is  not 
wholly  removed  from  their  hearts,  to  consider  seriously,  first, 
that  to  criminate  and  recriminate  never  yet  was  the  road  to 
reconciliation,  in  any  difference  amongst  men.  In  the  next 

5  place,  it  would  be  right  to  reflect,  that  the  American  English 
(whom  they  may  abuse,  if  they  think  it  honourable  to  revile 
the  absent)  can,  as  things  now  stand,  neither  be  provoked 
at  our  railing,  nor  bettered  by  our  instruction.  All  com 
munication  is  cut  off  between  us,1  but  this  we  know  with  cer- 

10  tainty,  that,  though  we  cannot  reclaim  them,  we  may  reform 
ourselves.  If  measures  of  peace  are  necessary,  they  must 
begin  somewhere ;  and  a  conciliatory  temper  must  precede 
and  prepare  every  plan  of  reconciliation.  Nor  do  I  con 
ceive  that  we  suffer  anything  by  thus  regulating  our  own 

15  minds.  We  are  not  disarmed  by  being  disencumbered  of 
our  passions.  Declaiming  on  rebellion  never  added  a  bayo 
net,  or  a  charge  of  powder,  to  your  military  force ;  but  I  am 
afraid  that  it  has  been  the  means  of  taking  up  many  muskets 
against  you. 

20  This  outrageous  language,  which  has  been  encouraged  and 
kept  alive  by  every  art,  has  already  done  incredible  mischief. 
For  a  long  time,  even  amidst  the  desolations  of  war,  and  the 
insults  of  hostile  laws  daily  accumulated  on  one  another,  the 
American  leaders  seem  to  have  had  the  greatest  difficulty  in 
25  bringing  up  their  people  to  a  declaration  of  total  independ 
ence.2  But  the  court  gazette  accomplished  what  the  abettors 
of  independence  had  attempted  in  vain.  When  that  disin 
genuous  compilation,  and  strange  medley  of  railing  and  flat 
tery,  was  adduced  as  a  proof  of  the  united  sentiments  of  the 

3o  people  of  Great  Britain,  there  was  a  great  change  through 
out  all  America.  The  tide  of  popular  affection,  which  had 


ON  THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  189 

still  set  towards  the  parent  country,  begun  immediately  to 
turn,  and  to  flow  with  great  rapidity  in  a  contrary  course. 
Far  from  concealing  these  wild  declarations  of  enmity,  the 
author  of  the  celebrated  pamphlet,  which  prepared  the  minds 
of  the  people  for  independence,  insist  largely  on  the  multi-  5 
tude  and  the  spirit  of  these  addresses ;  and  he  draws  an 
argument  from  them,  which  (if  the  fact  was  as  he  supposes) 
must  be  irresistible.  For  I  never  knew  a  writer  on  the 
theory  of  government  so  partial  to  authority  as  not  to  allow, 
that  the  hostile  mind  of  the  rulers  to  their  people  did  fully  10 
justify  a  change  of  government ;  nor  can  any  reason  what 
ever  be  given,  why  one  people  should  voluntarily  yield  any 
degree  of  pre-eminence  to  another,  but  on  a  supposition  of 
great  affection  and  benevolence  towards  them.  Unfortunately 
your  rulers,  trusting  to  other  things,  took  no  notice  of  this  15 
great  principle  of  connexion.  From  the  beginning  of  this 
affair,  they  have  done  all  they  could  to  alienate  your  minds 
from  your  own  kindred ;  and  if  they  could  excite  hatred 
enough  in  one  of  the  parties  towards  the  other,  they  seemed 
to  be  of  opinion  that  they  had  gone  half  the  way  towards  20 
reconciling  the  quarrel. 

I  know  it  is  said,  that  your  kindness  is  only  alienated  on 
account  of  their  resistance ;  and  therefore  if  the  colonies 
surrender  at  discretion,  all  sort  of  regard,  and  even  much 
indulgence,  is  meant  towards  them  in  future.     But  can  those  25 
who  are  partisans  for  continuing  a  war  to  enforce  such  a  sur 
render  be  responsible  (after  all  that  has  passed)  for  such  a 
future  use  of  a  power,  that  is  bound  by  no  compacts,  and 
restrained  by  no  terror?     Will  they  tell  us  what  they  call 
indulgences  ?     Do  they  not  at  this  instant  call  the  present  30 
war,  and  all  its  horrors,  a  lenient  and  merciful  proceeding?  - 


190          LETTER    TO    THE   SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

No  conqueror,  that  I  ever  heard  of,  has  professed  to  make 
a  cruel,  harsh,  and  insolent  use  of  his  conquest.  No  !  The 
man  of  the  most  declared  pride  scarcely  dares  to  trust  his 
own  heart  with  this  dreadful  secret  of  ambition.  But  it  will 

5  appear  in  its  time ;  and  no  man,  who  professes  to  reduce 
another  to  the  insolent  mercy  of  a  foreign  arm,  ever  had  any 
sort  of  good-will  towards  him.  The  profession  of  kindness, 
with  that  sword  in  his  hand,  and  that  demand  of  surrender, 
is  one  of  the  most  provoking  acts  of  his  hostility.  I  shall  be 

10  told,  that  all  this  is  lenient  as  against  rebellious  adversaries. 
But  are  the  leaders  of  their  faction  more  lenient  to  those 
who  submit?  Lord  Howe  and  General  Howe  have  powers, 
under  an  act  of  parliament,  to  restore  to  the  king's  peace 
and  to  free  trade  any  men,  or  district,  which  shall  submit.1 

15  Is  this  done?  We  have  been  over  and  over  informed  by 
the  authorized  gazette,  that  the  city  of  New  York,  and  the 
countries  of  Staten  and  Long  Island,  have  submitted  volun 
tarily  and  cheerfully,  and  that  many  are  very  full  of  zeal  to 
the  cause  of  administration.  Were  they  instantly  restored 

20  to  trade  ?  Are  they  yet  restored  to  it  ?  Is  not  the  benig 
nity  of  two  commissioners,  naturally  most  humane  and  gener 
ous  men,  some  way  fettered  by  instructions,  equally  against 
their  dispositions  and  spirit  of  parliamentary  faith ;  when 
Mr.  Tryon,  vaunting  of  the  fidelity  of  the  city  in  which  he  is 

25  governor,  is  obliged  to  apply  to  ministry  for  leave  to  protect 
the  king's  loyal  subjects,  and  to  grant  to  them  (not  the  dis 
puted  rights  and  privileges  of  freedom)  but  the  common 
rights  of  men,  by  the  name  of  graces  ?  Why  do  not  the 
commissioners  restore  them  on  the  spot?  Were  they  not 

30  named  as  commissioners  for  that  express  purpose  ?  But  we 
see  well  enough  to  what  the  whole  leads.  The  trade  of 


ON  THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  191 

America  is  to  be  dealt  out  m  private  indulgences  and  graces  ; l 
that  is,  in  jobs  to  recompense  the  incendiaries  of  war.  They 
will  be  informed  of  the  proper  time  in  which  to  send  out  their 
merchandise.  From  a  national,  the  American  trade  is  to  be 
turned  into  a  personal  monopoly  :  and  one  set  of  merchants  5 
are  to  be  rewarded  for  the  pretended  zeal,  of  which  another 
set  are  the  dupes ;  and  thus,  between  craft  and  credulity, 
the  voice  of  reason  is  stifled ;  and  all  the  misconduct,  all 
the  calamities  of  the  war  are  covered  and  continued. 

If  I  had  not  lived  long  enough  to  be  little  surprised  at  10 
anything,  I  should  have  been  in  some  degree  astonished  at 
the  continued  rage  of  several  gentlemen,  who,  not  satisfied 
with  carrying  fire  and   sword  into  America,  are  animated 
nearly  with  the  same  fury  against  those  neighbours  of  theirs, 
whose  only  crime  it  is,  that  they  have  charitably  and  hu-   15 
manely  wished  them  to  entertain    more  reasonable   senti 
ments,  and  not  always   to  sacrifice  their  interest  to  their 
passion.     All  this  rage  against  unresisting  dissent  convinces 
me,  that,  at  bottom,  they  are  far  from  satisfied  they  are  in 
the  right.     For  what  is  it  they  would  have  ?    A  war  ?     They  20 
certainly  have  at  this  moment  the  blessing  of  something 
that  is  very  like  one  ;  and  if  the  war  they  enjoy  at  present 
be  not  sufficiently  hot  and  extensive,  they  may  shortly  have 
it  as  warm  and  as  spreading  as  their  hearts  can  desire.2     Is 
it  the  force  pf  the  kingdom  they  call  for?    They  have  it  25 
already ;  and:  if  they  choose  to  fight  their  battles  in  their 
own  person,  nobody  prevents  their  setting  sail  to  America 
in  the  next  transports.     Do  they  think,  that  the  service  is 
stinted  for-  want  of  liberal  supplies  ?     Indeed  they  complain 
without  reason...    The  table  of  the  House  of  Commons  will  30 
glut  them,  let  their  appetite  for  expense  be  never  so  keen. 


192  .ETTER    TO    THE   SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

And  I  assure  them  further,  that  those  who  think  with  them 
in  the  House  of  Commons  are  full  as  easy  in  the  control,  as 
they  are  liberal  in  the  vote,  of  these  expenses.  If  this  be 
not  supply  or  confidence  sufficient,  let  them  open  their  own 

5  private  purse-strings,  and  give,  from  what  is  left  to  them,  as 
largely  and  with  as  little  care  as  they  think  proper. 

Tolerated  in  their  passions,  let  them  learn  not  to  persecute 
the  moderation  of  their  fellow-citizens.  If  all  the  world 
joined  them  in  a  full  cry  against  rebellion,  and  were  as  hotly 

10  inflamed  against  the  whole  theory  and  enjoyment  of  free 
dom,  as  those  who  are  the  most  factious  for  servitude,  it 
could  not  in  my  opinion  answer  any  one  end  whatsoever  in 
this  contest.  The  leaders  of  this  war  could  not  hire  (to 
gratify  their  friends)  one  German  more  than  they  do ;  or 

15  inspire  him  with  less  feeling  for  the  persons,  or  less  value  for 
the  privileges,  of  their  revolted  brethren.  If  we  all  adopted 
their  sentiments  to  a  man,  their  allies,  the  savage  Indians, 
could  not  be  more  ferocious  than  they  are  :  they  could  not 
murder  one  more  helpless  woman  or  child,  or  with  more 

20  exquisite  refinements  of  cruelty  torment  to  death  one  more 
of  their  English  flesh  and  blood,  than  they  do  already.  The 
public  money  is  given  to  purchase  this  alliance  ;  —  and  they 
have  their  bargain. 

They  are  continually  boasting  of  unanimity ;  or  calling  for 

25  it.  But  before  this  unanimity  can  be  matter  either  of  wish 
or  congratulation,  we  ought  to  be  pretty  sure  that  we  are 
engaged  in  a  rational  pursuit.  Phrensy  does  not  become  a 
slighter  distemper  on  account  of  the  number  of  those  who 
may  be  infected  with  it.  Delusion  and  weakness  produce 

30  not  one  mischief  the  less,  because  they  are  universal.  I 
declare,  that  I  cannot  discern  the  least  advantage  which 


ON   THE   AFFAIRS    OF  AMERICA.  193 

could  accrue  to  us,  if  we  were  able  to  persuade  our  colonies 
that  they  had  not  a  single  friend  in  Great  Britain.     On  the 
contrary,  if  the  affections  and  opinions  of  mankind  be  not 
exploded  as  principles  of  connexion,  I  conceive  it  would  be 
happy  for  us  if  they  were  taught  to  believe,  that  there  was    5 
even  a  formed  American  party  in  England,  to  whom  they 
could  always  look  for  support !     Happy  would  it  be  for  us, 
if,  in  all  tempers,  they  might  turn  their  eyes  to  the  parent 
state  ;  so  that  their  very  turbulence  and  sedition  should  find    . 
vent  in  no  other  place  than  this.     I  believe  there  is  not  a  10 
man  (except  those  who  prefer  the  interest  of  some  paltry 
faction  to  the  very  being  of  their  country)  who  would  not 
wish  that  the  Americans   should  from  time  to  time  carry 
many  points,  and  even  some  of  them  not  quite  reasonable 
by  the  aid  of  any  denomination  of  men  here,  rather  than  15 
they  should  be  driven  to  seek  for  protection  against  the  fury 
of  foreign  mercenaries,  and  the  waste  of  savages,  in  the  arms 
of  France. 

When   any  community  is    subordinately  connected  with 
another,  the  great  danger  of  the  connexion  is  the  extreme  20 
pride  and   self-complacency  of  the   superior,  which  in  all 
matters  of  controversy  will  probably  decide  in  its  own  favour. 
It  is  a  powerful  corrective  to  such  a  very  rational  cause  of 
fear,  if  the  inferior  body  can  be  made  to  believe,  that  the 
party  inclination,  or  political  views,  of  several  in  the  prin-  25 
cipal  state,  will  induce  them  in  some  degree  to  counteract 
this  blind  and  tyrannical  partiality.     There  is  no  danger  that 
any  one  acquiring  consideration  or  power  in  the  presiding 
state  should  carry  this  learning  to  the  inferior  too  far.     The 
fault  of  human  nature  is  not  of  that  sort.     Power,  in  what-  3o 
ever  hands,  is  rarely  guilty  of  too  strict  limitations  on  itself, 


194  LETTER    TO    THE   SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

But  one  great  advantage  to  the  support  of  authority  attends 
such  an  amicable  and  protecting  connexion,  that  those  who 
have  conferred  favours  obtain  influence  ;  and  from  the  fore 
sight  of  future  events  can  persuade  men,  who  have  received 

5  obligations,  sometimes  to  return  them.  Thus  by  the  media 
tion  of  those  healing  principles,  (call  them  good  or  evil,) 
troublesome  discussions  are  brought  to  some  sort  of  adjust 
ment  ;  and  every  hot  controversy  is  not  a  civil  war. 

But,  if  the  colonies  (to  bring  the  general  matter  home  to 

10  us)  could  see,  that,  in  Great  Britain,  the  mass  of  the  people 
is  melted  into  its  government,  and  that  every  dispute  with 
the  ministry  must  of  necessity  be  always  a  quarrel  with  the 
nation ;  they  can  stand  no  longer  in  the  equal  and  friendly 
relation  of  fellow- citizens  to  the  subjects  of  this  kingdom. 

15  Humble  as  this  relation  may  appear  to  some,  when  it  is  once 
broken,  a  strong  tie  is  dissolved.  Other  sort  of  connexions 
will  be  sought.  For,  there  are  very  few  in  the  world,  who 
will  not  prefer  a  useful  ally  to  an  insolent  master. 

Such  discord  has  been  the  effect  of  the  unanimity  into 

20  which  so  many  have  of  late  been  seduced  or  bullied,  or  into 
the  appearance  of  which  they  have  sunk  through  mere  de 
spair.  They  have  been  told  that  their  dissent  from  violent 
measures  is  an  encouragement  to  rebellion.  Men  of  great 
presumption  and  little  knowledge  will  hold  a  language  which 

25  is  contradicted  by  the  whole  course  of  history.  General 
rebellions  and  revolts  of  a  whole  people  never  were  encour 
aged,  now  or  at  any  time.  They  are  always  provoked.  But 
if  this  unheard-of  doctrine  of  the  encouragement  of  rebellion 
were  true,  if  it  were  true  that  an  assurance  of  the  friendship 

30  of  numbers  in  this  country  towards  the  colonies  could  become 
an  encouragement  to  them  to  break  off  all  connexion  with 


ON  THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  195 

it,  what  is  the  inference?  Does  anybody  seriously  main 
tain,  that,  charged  with  my  share  of  the  public  councils,  I 
am  obliged  not  to  resist  projects  which  I  think  mischievous, 
lest  men  who  suffer  should  be  encouraged  to  resist  ?  The 
very  tendency  of  such  projects  to  produce  rebellion  is  one  5 
of  the  chief  reasons  against  them.  Shall  that  reason  not  be 
given?  Is  it  then  a  rule,  that  no  man  in  this  nation  shall 
open  his  mouth  in  favour  of  the  colonies,  shall  defend  their 
rights,  or  complain  of  their  sufferings  ?  Or  when  war  finally 
breaks  out,  no  man  shall  express  his  desires  of  peace  ?  Has  10 
this  been  the  law  of  our  past,  or  is  it  to  be  the  terms  of  our 
future  connexion?  Even  looking  no  farther  than  ourselves, 
can  it  be  true  loyalty  to  any  government,  or  true  patriotism 
towards  any  country,  to  degrade  their  solemn  councils  into 
servile  drawing-rooms,  to  flatter  their  pride  and  passions,  15 
rather  than  to  enlighten  their  reason,  and  to  prevent  them 
from  being  cautioned  against  violence  lest  others  should  be 
encouraged  to  resistance  ?  By  such  acquiescence  great  kings 
and  mighty  nations  have  been  undone  ;  and  if  any  are  at  this 
day  in  a  perilous  situation  from  resisting  truth,  and  listening  20 
to  flattery,  it  would  rather  become  them  to  reform  the  errors 
under  which  they  suffer,  than  to  reproach  those  who  fore 
warned  them  of  their  danger. 

But  the  rebels  looked  for  assistance   from  this  country. 
They  did  so,  in  the  beginning  of  this  controversy,  most  cer-  25 
tainly ;  and  they  sought  it  by  earnest  supplications  to  gov 
ernment,  which  dignity  rejected,  and  by  a  suspension   of 
commerce,  which  the  wealth  of  this  nation  enabled  you  to 
despise.    When  they  found  that  neither  prayers  nor  menaces 
had  any  sort  of  weight,  but  that  a  firm  resolution  was  taken  30 
to  reduce  them  to  unconditional  obedience  by  a  military 


196          LETTER    TO    THE  SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

force,  they  came  to  the  last  extremity.  Despairing  of  us, 
they  trusted  in  themselves.  Not  strong  enough  themselves, 
they  sought  succour  in  France.  In  proportion  as  all  en 
couragement  here  lessened,  their  distance  from  this  country 

5  increased.  The  encouragement  is  over;  the  alienation  is 
complete.1 

In  order  to  produce  this  favourite  unanimity  in  delusion, 
and  to  prevent  all  possibility  of  a  return  to  our  ancient 
happy  concord,  arguments  for  our  continuance  in  this  course 

10  are  drawn  from  the  wretched  situation  itself  into  which  we 
have  been  betrayed.  It  is  said,  that  being  at  war  with  the 
colonies,  whatever  our  sentiments  might  have  been  before, 
all  ties  between  us  are  now  dissolved  ;  and  all  the  policy  we 
have  left  is  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  government  to  reduce 

15  them.  On  the  principle  of  this  argument,  the  more  mis 
chiefs  we  suffer  from  any  administration,  the  more  our  trust 
in  it  is  to  be  confirmed.  Let  them  but  once  get  us  into 
a  war,  and  then  their  power  is  safe,  and  an  act  of  oblivion 
passed  for  all  their  misconduct. 

20  But  is  it  really  true,  that  government  is  always  to  be 
strengthened  with  the  instruments  of  war,  but  never  fur 
nished  with  the  means  of  peace  ?  In  former  times,  minis 
ters,  I  allow,  have  been  sometimes  driven  by  the  popular 
voice  to  assert  by  arms  the  national  honour  against  foreign 

25  powers.  But  the  wisdom  of  the  nation  has  been  far  more 
clear,  when  those  ministers  have  been  compelled  to  consult 
its  interest  by  treaty.  We  all  know  that  the  sense  of  the 
nation  obliged  the  court  of  King  Charles  the  Second  to 
abandon  the  Dutch  war;  a  war  next  to  the  present  the 

30  most  impolitic  which  we  ever  carried  on.  The  good  people 
of  England  considered  Holland  as  a  sort  of  dependency  on 


ON   THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  197 

this  kingdom ;  they  dreaded  to  drive  it  to  the  protection, 
or  subject  it  to  the  power  of  France,  by  their  own  incon 
siderate  hostility.  They  paid  but  little  respect  to  the  court 
jargon  of  that  day ;  nor  were  they  inflamed  by  the  pre 
tended  rivalship  of  the  Dutch  in  trade ;  by  their  massacre  5 
at  Amboyna,1  acted  on  the  stage  to  provoke  the  public  ven 
geance  ;  nor  by  declamations  against  the  ingratitude  of  the 
United  Provinces  for  the  benefits  England  had  conferred 
upon  them  in  their  infant  state.  They  were  not  moved  from 
their  evident  interest  by  all  these  arts  ;  nor  was  it  enough  to  10 
tell  them,  they  were  at  war ;  that  they  must  go  through  with 
it ;  and  that  the  cause  of  the  dispute  was  lost  in  the  conse 
quences.  The  people  of  England  were  then,  as  they  are 
now,  called  upon  to  make  government  strong.  They  thought 
it  a  great  deal  better  to  make  it  wise  and  honest.  15 

When  I  was  amongst  my  constituents  at  the  last  summer 
assizes,  I  remember  that  men  of  all  descriptions  did  then 
express  a  very  strong  desire  for  peace,  and  no  slight  hopes 
of  attaining  it  from  the  commission  sent  out  by  my  Lord 
Howe.  And  it  is  not  a  little  remarkable,  that,  in  proportion  20 
as  every  person  showed  a  zeal  for  the  court  measures,  he 
was  then  earnest  in  circulating  an  opinion  of  the  extent  of 
the  supposed  powers  of  that  commission.  When  I  told 
them  that  Lord  Howe  had  no  powers  to  treat,  or  to  promise 
satisfaction  on  any  point  whatsoever  of  the  controversy,  I  25 
was  hardly  credited  ;  so  strong  and  general  was  the  desire  of 
terminating  this  war  by  the  method  of  accommodation.  As 
far  as  I  could  discover,  this  was  the  temper  then  prevalent 
through  the  kingdom.  The  king's  forces,  it  must  be  ob 
served,  had  at  that  time  been  obliged  to  evacuate  Boston.  3o 
The  superiority  of  the  former  campaign  rested  wholly  with 


198          LETTER    TO    THE   SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

the  colonists.  If  such  powers  of  treaty  were  to  be  wished, 
whilst  success  was  very  doubtful,  how  came  they  to  be  less 
so,  since  his  Majesty's  arms  have  been  crowned  with  many 
considerable  advantages  ?  Have  these  successes  induced  us 

5  to  alter  our  mind  ;  as  thinking  the  season  of  victory  not  the 
time  for  treating  with  honour  or  advantage?  Whatever 
changes  have  happened  in  the  national  character,  it  can 
scarcely  be  our  wish,  that  terms  of  accommodation  never 
should  be  proposed  to  our  enemy,  except  when  they  must 

10  be  attributed  solely  to  our  fears.  It  has  happened,  let  me 
say  unfortunately,  that  we  read  of  his  Majesty's  commission 
for  making  peace,  and  his  troops  evacuating  his  last  town 
in  the  thirteen  colonies,  at  the  same  hour  and  in  the  same 
gazette.1  It  was  still  more  unfortunate,  that  no  commission 

15  went  to  America  to  settle  the  troubles  there,  until  several 
months  after  an  act  had  been  passed  to  put  the  colonies  out 
of  the  protection  of  this  government,  and  to  divide  their 
trading  property,  without  a  possibility  of  restitution,  as  spoil 
among  the  seamen  of  the  navy.  The  most  abject  submission 

20  on  the  part  of  the  colonies  could  not  redeem  them.  There 
was  no  man  on  that  whole  continent,  or  within  three  thou 
sand  miles  of  it,  qualified  by  law  to  follow  allegiance  with 
protection,  or  submission  with  pardon.  A  proceeding  of  this 
kind  has  no  example  in  history.  Independency,  and  inde- 

25  pendency  with  an  enmity,  (which  putting  ourselves  out  of 
the  question,  would  be  called  natural  and  much  provoked,) 
was  the  inevitable  consequence.  How  this  came  to  pass, 
the  nation  may  be  one  day  in  an  humour  to  inquire. 

All  the  attempts  made  this  session  to  give  fuller  powers  of 

3o  peace  to  the  commanders  in  America,  were  stifled  by  the 
fatal  confidence  of  victory,  and  the  wild  hopes  of  uncon- 


ON  THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  199 

ditional  submission.  There  was  a  moment  favourable  to  the 
king's  arms,  when  if  any  powers  of  concession  had  existed 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  even  after  all  our  errors, 
peace  in  all  probability  might  have  been  restored.1  But 
calamity  is  unhappily  the  usual  season  of  reflection ;  and  5 
the  pride  of  men  will  not  often  suffer  reason  to  have  any 
scope  until  it  can  be  no  longer  of  service. 

I  have  always  wished,  that  as  the  dispute  had  its  apparent 
origin  from  things  done  in  parliament,  and  as  the  acts  passed 
there  had  provoked  the  war,  that  the  foundations  of  peace  10 
should  be  laid  in  parliament  also.  I  have  been  astonished 
to  find,  that  those,  whose  zeal  for  the  dignity  of  our  body 
was  so  hot  as  to  light  up  the  flames  of  civil  war,  should  even 
publicly  declare,  that  these  delicate  points  ought  to  be  wholly 
left  to  the  crown.  Poorly  as  I  may  be  thought  affected  to  15 
the  authority  of  parliament,  I  shall  never  admit  that  our 
constitutional  rights  can  ever  become  a  matter  of  ministerial 
negotiation. 

I  am  charged  with  being  an  American.     If  warm  affection 
towards  those  over  whom  I  claim  any  share  of  authority  be  20 
a  crime,  I  am  guilty  of  this  charge.     But  I  do  assure  you, 
(and  they  who  know  me  publicly  and  privately  will  bear  wit 
ness  to  me,)  that  if  ever  one  man  lived  more  zealous  than 
another  for  the  supremacy  of  parliament,  and  the  rights  of 
this  imperial  crown,  it  was  myself.     Many  others  indeed  25 
might  be  more  knowing  in  the  extent  of  the  foundation  of 
these  rights.     I  do  not  pretend  to  be  an  antiquary,  a  lawyer, 
or  qualified  for  the  chair  of  professor  in  metaphysics.     I 
never  ventured  to  put  your  solid  interests  upon  speculative 
grounds.2    My  having  constantly  declined  to  do  so  has  been  30 
attributed  to  my  incapacity  for  such  disquisitions ;  and  I  am 


200          LETTER    TO    THE  SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

inclined  to  believe  it  is  partly  the  cause.  I  never  shall  be 
ashamed  to  confess,  that  where  I  am  ignorant  I  am  diffident. 
I  am  indeed  not  very  solicitous  to  clear  myself  of  this  imputed 
incapacity ;  because  men,  even  less  conversant  than  I  am  in 

5  this  kind  of  subtleties,  and  placed  in  stations  to  which  I  ought 
not  to  aspire,  have,  by  the  mere  force  of  civil  discretion,  often 
conducted  the  affairs  of  great  nations  with  distinguished 
felicity  and  glory. 

When  I  first  came  into  a  public  trust,  I  found  your  parlia- 

10  ment  in  possession  of  an  unlimited  legislative  power  over  the 
colonies.1  I  could  not  open  the  statute  book  without  seeing 
the  actual  exercise  of  it,  more  or  less,  in  all  cases  what 
soever.  This  possession  passed  with  me  for  a  title.  It  does 
so  in  all  human  affairs.  No  man  examines  into  the  defects 

15  of  his  title  to  his  paternal  estate,  or  to  his  established  gov 
ernment.  Indeed  common  sense  taught  me,  that  a  legisla 
tive  authority,  not  actually  limited  by  the  express  terms  of 
its  foundation,  or  by  its  own  subsequent  acts,  cannot  have 
its  powers  parcelled  out  by  argumentative  distinctions,  so  as 

20  to  enable  us  to  say,  that  here  they  can,  and  there  they  can 
not,  bind.  Nobody  was  so  obliging  as  to  produce  to  me 
any  record  of  such  distinctions,  by.  compact  or  otherwise, 
either  at  the  successive  formation  of  the  several  colonies,  or 
during  the  existence  of  any  of  them.  If  any  gentlemen 

25  were  able  to  see  how  one  power  could  be  given  up  (merely 
on  abstract  reasoning)  without  giving  up  the  rest,  I  can  only 
say,  that  they  saw  farther  than  I  could ;  nor  did  I  ever  pre 
sume  to  condemn  any  one  for  being  clear-sighted,  when  I 
was  blind.  I  praise  the  penetration  and  learning ;  and  hope 

30  that  their  practice  has  been  correspondent  to  their  theory. 
I  had  indeed  very  earnest  wishes  to  keep  the  whole  body 


ON  THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  201 

of  this  authority  perfect  and  entire  as  I  found  it :  and  to 
keep  it  so,  not  for  our  advantage  solely ;  but  principally  for 
the  sake  of  those,  on  whose  account  all  just  authority  exists ; 
I  mean  the  people  to  be  governed.  For  I  thought  I  saw, 
that  many  cases  might  well  happen,  in  which  the  exercise  of  5 
every  power  comprehended  in  the  broadest  idea  of  legisla 
ture,  might  become,  in  its  time  and  circumstances,  not  a  little 
expedient  for  the  peace  and  union  of  the  colonies  amongst 
themselves,  as  well  as  for  their  perfect  harmony  with  Great 
Britain.  Thinking  so,  (perhaps  erroneously,)  but  being  hon-  10 
estly  of  that  opinion,  I  was  at  the  same  time  very  sure,  that 
the  authority,  of  which  I  was  so  jealous,  could  not  under  the 
actual  circumstances  of  our  plantations  be  at  all  preserved 
in  any  of  its  members,  but  by  the  greatest  reserve  in  its 
application ;  particularly  in  those  delicate  points,  in  which  15 
the  feelings  of  mankind  are  the  most  irritable.  They  who 
thought  otherwise,  have  found  a  few  more  difficulties  in  their 
work  than  (I  hope)  they  were  thoroughly  aware  of,  when 
they  undertook  the  present  business.  I  must  beg  leave  to 
observe,  that  it  is  not  only  the  invidious  branch  of  taxation  20 
that  will  be  resisted,  but  that  no  other  given  part  of  legisla 
tive  rights  can  be  exercised,  without  regard  to  the  general 
opinion  of  those  who  are  to  be  governed.  That  general 
opinion  is  the  vehicle  and  organ  of  legislative  omnipotence. 
Without  this,  it  may  be  a  theory  to  entertain  the  mind,  but  25 
it  is  nothing  in  the  direction  of  affairs.  The  completeness 
of  the  legislative  authority  of  parliament  over  this  kingdom 
is  not  questioned  ;  and  yet  many  things  indubitably  included 
in  the  abstract  idea  of  that  power,  and  which  carry  no  abso 
lute  injustice  in  themselves,  yet  being  contrary  to  the  opin-  3o 
ions  and  feelings  of  the  people,  can  as  little  be  exercised,  as 


202          LETTER    TO    THE   SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

if  parliament  in  that  case  had  been  possessed  of  no  right  at 
all.  I  see  no  abstract  reason,  which  can  be  given,  why  the 
same  power,  which  made  and  repealed  the  High-Commission 
Court  and  the  Star-Chamber,  might  not  revive  them  again;1 

5  and  these  courts,  warned  by  their  former  fate,  might  possi 
bly  exercise  their  powers  with  some  degree  of  justice.  But 
the  madness  would  be  as  unquestionable,  as  the  competence 
of  that  parliament  which  should  attempt  such  things.  If 
anything  can  be  supposed  out  of  the  power  of  human  legis- 

10  lature,  it  is  religion  :  I  admit,  however,  that  the  established 
religion  of  this  country  has  been  three  or  four  times  altered 
by  act  of  parliament;  and  therefore  that  a  statute  binds 
even  in  that  case.  But  we  may  very  safely  affirm,  that,  not 
withstanding  this  apparent  omnipotence,  it  would  be  now 

15  found  as  impossible  for  king  and  parliament  to  alter  the 
established  religion  of  this  country,  as  it  was  to  King  James 
alone,  when  he  attempted  to  make  such  an  alteration  without 
a  parliament.  In  effect,  to  follow,  not  to  force  the  public 
inclination;  to  give  a  direction,  a  form,  a  technical  dress, 

20  and  a  specific  sanction,  to  the  general  sense  of  the  commu 
nity,  is  the  true  end  of  legislature. 

It  is  so  with  regard  to  the  exercise  of  all  the  powers  which 
our  constitution  knows  in  any  of  its  parts,  and  indeed  to  the 
substantial  existence  of  any  of  the  parts  themselves.  The 

25  king's  negative  to  bills  is  one  of  the  most  indisputed  of  the 
royal  prerogatives ;  and  it  extends  to  all  cases  whatsoever. 
I  am  far  from  certain,  that  if  several  laws  which  I  know  had 
fallen  under  the  stroke  of  that  sceptre,  that  the  public  would 
have  had  a  very  heavy  loss.  But  it  is  not  the  propriety  of 

30  the  exercise  which  is  in  question.  The  exercise  itself  is 
wisely  forborne.  Its  repose  may  be  the  preservation  of  its 


ON   THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  203 

existence ;  and  its  existence  may  be  the  means  of  saving 
the  constitution  itself,  on  an  occasion  worthy  of  bringing  it 
forth.  As  the  disputants,  whose  accurate  and  logical  rea 
sonings  have  brought  us  into  our  present  condition,  think  it 
absurd,  that  powers  or  members  of  any  constitution  should  5 
exist,  rarely  or  never  to  be  exercised,  I  hope  I  shall  be  ex 
cused  in  mentioning  another  instance,  that  is  material.  We 
know,  that  the  Convocation  of  the  Clergy l  had  formerly  been 
called,  and  sat  with  nearly  as  much  regularity  to  business  as 
parliament  itself.  It  is  now  called  for  form  only.  It  sits  J0 
for  the  purpose  of  making  some  polite  ecclesiastical  compli 
ments  to  the  king ;  and,  when  that  grace  is  said,  retires  and 
is  heard  of  no  more.  It  is  however  a  part  of  the  constitution, 
and  may  be  called  out  into  act  and  energy,  whenever  there 
is  occasion  ;  and  whenever  those,  who  conjure  up  that  spirit,  15 
will  choose  to  abide  the  consequences.  It  is  wise  to  permit 
its  legal  existence ;  it  is  much  wiser  to  continue  it  a  legal 
existence  only.  So  truly  has  prudence  (constituted  as  the 
god  of  this  lower  world)  the  entire  dominion  over  every 
exercise  of  power  committed  into  its  hands ;  and  yet  I  have  20 
lived  to  see  prudence  and  conformity  to  circumstances  wholly 
set  at  nought  in  our  late  controversies,  and  treated  as  if  they 
were  the  most  contemptible  and  irrational  of  all  things.  I 
have  heard  it  a  hundred  times  very  gravely  alleged,  that  in 
order  to  keep  power  in  wind,  it  was  necessary,  by  prefer-  25 
ence,  to  exert  it  in  those  very  points  in  which  it  was  most 
likely  to  be  resisted,  and  the  least  likely  to  be  productive  of 
any  advantage. 

These  were  the  considerations,  gentlemen,  which  led  me 
early  to  think,  that,  in  the  comprehensive  dominion  which  30 
the  Divine  Providence  had  put  into  our  hands,  instead  of 


204          LETTER    TO    THE   SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

troubling  our  understandings  with  speculations  concerning 
the  unity  of  empire,  and  the  identity  or  distinction  of  legis 
lative  powers,  and  inflaming  our  passions  with  the  heat  and 
pride  of  controversy,  it  was  our  duty,  in  all  soberness,  to 

5  conform  our  government  to  the  character  and  circumstances 
of  the  several  people  who  composed  this  mighty  and  strangely 
diversified  mass.  I  never  was  wild  enough  to  conceive,  that 
one  method  would  serve  for  the  whole ;  that  the  natives  of 
Hindostan  and  those  of  Virginia  could  be  ordered  in  the 

10  same  manner ;  or  that  the  Cutchery  court l  and  the  grand 
jury  of  Salem  could  be  regulated  on  a  similar  plan.  I  was 
persuaded  that  government  was  a  practical  thing,  made  for 
the  happiness  of  mankind,  and  not  to  furnish  out  a  spectacle 
of  uniformity,  to  gratify  the  schemes  of  visionary  politicians. 

15  Our  business  was  to  rule,  not  to  wrangle  ;  and  it  would  have 
been  a  poor  compensation  that  we  had  triumphed  in  a  dis 
pute,  whilst  we  lost  an  empire. 

If  there  be  one  fact  in  the  world  perfectly  clear  it  is  this  : 
"That  the  disposition  of* the  people  of  America  is  wholly 

20  averse  to  any  other  than  a  free  government;"  and  this  is 
indication  enough  to  any  honest  statesman,  how  he  ought  to 
adapt  whatever  power  he  finds  in  his  hands  to  their  case. 
If  any  ask  me  what  a  free  government  is,  I  answer,  that,  for 
any  practical  purpose,  it  is  what  the  people  think  so ;  and 

25  that  they,  and  not  I,  are  the  natural,  lawful,  and  competent 
judges  of  this  matter.  If  they  practically  allow  me  a  greater 
degree  of  authority  over  them  than  is  consistent  with  any 
correct  ideas  of  perfect  freedom,  I  ought  to  thank  them  for 
so  great  a  trust,  and  not  to  endeavour  to  prove  from  thence, 

30  that  they  have  reasoned  amiss,  and  that  having  gone  so  far, 
by  analogy,  they  must  hereafter  have  no  enjoyment  but  by 
my  pleasure. 


ON  THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  205 

If  we  had  seen  this  done  by  any  others,  we  should  have 
concluded  them  far  gone  in  madness.  It  is  melancholy  as 
well  as  ridiculous,  to  observe  the  kind  of  reasoning  with 
which  the  public  has  been  amused,  in  order  to  divert  our 
minds  from  the  common  sense  of  our  American  policy.  5 
There  are  people,  who  have  split  and  anatomized  the  doc 
trine  of  free  government,  as  if  it  were  an  abstract  question 
concerning  metaphysical  liberty  and  necessity ;  and  not  a 
matter  of  moral  prudence  and  natural  feeling.  They  have 
disputed,  whether  liberty  be  a  positive  or  a  negative  idea ;  10 
whether  it  does  not  consist  in  being  governed  by  laws,  with 
out  considering  what  are  the  laws,  or  who  are  the  makers ; 
whether  man  has  any  rights  by  nature  ;  and  whether  all  the 
property  he  enjoys  be  not  the  alms  of  his  government,  and 
his  life  itself  their  favour  and  indulgence.  Others,  corrupt-  15 
ing  religion,  as  these  have  perverted  philosophy,  contend, 
that  Christians  are  redeemed  into  captivity ;  and  the  blood 
of  the  Saviour  of  mankind  has  been  shed  to  make  them 
the  slaves  of  a  few  proud  and  insolent  sinners.  These 
shocking  extremes  provoking  to  extremes  of  another  kind,  20 
speculations  are  let  loose  as  destructive  to  all  authority,  as 
the  former  are  to  all  freedom;  and  every  government  is 
called  tyranny  and  usurpation  which  is  not  formed  on  their 
fancies.  In  this  manner  the  stirrers-up  of  this  contention, 
not  satisfied  with  distracting  our  dependencies  and  filling  25 
them  with  blood  and  slaughter,  are  corrupting  our  under 
standings  :  they  are  endeavouring  to  tear  up,  along  with 
practical  liberty,  all  the  foundations  of  human  society,  all 
equity  and  justice,  religion  and  order. 

Civil  freedom,  gentlemen,  is  not,  as  many  have  endeav-  30 
cured  to  persuade  you,  a  thing  that  lies  hid  in  the  depth  of 


206          LETTER    TO    THE  SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

abstruse  science.  It  is  a  blessing  and  a  benefit,  not  an 
abstract  speculation ;  and  all  the  just  reasoning  that  can  be 
upon  it  is  of  so  coarse  a  texture,  as  perfectly  to  suit  the 
ordinary  capacities  of  those  who  are  to  enjoy,  and  of  those 

5  who  are  to  defend  it.  Far  from  any  resemblance  to  those 
propositions  in  geometry  and  metaphysics,  which  admit  no 
medium,  but  must  be  true  or  false  in  all  their  latitude ; 
social  and  civil  freedom,  like  all  other  things  in  common  life, 
are  variously  mixed  and  modified,  enjoyed  in  very  different 

10  degrees,  and  shaped  into  an  infinite  diversity  of  forms,  ac 
cording  to  the  temper  and  circumstances  of  every  commu 
nity.  The  extreme  of  liberty  (which  is  its  abstract  perfection, 
but  its  real  fault)  obtains  nowhere,  nor  ought  to  obtain  any 
where.  Because  extremes,  as  we  all  know,  in  every  point 

15  which  relates  either  to  our  duties  or  satisfactions  in  life,  are 
destructive  both  to  virtue  and  enjoyment.1  Liberty  too  must 
be  limited  in  order  to  be  possessed.  The  degree  of  restraint 
it  is  impossible  in  any  case  to  settle  precisely.  But  it  ought 
to  be  the  constant  aim  of  every  wise  public  council,  to  find 

20  out  by  cautious  experiments,  and  rational,  cool  endeavours, 
with  how  little,  not  how  much,  of  this  restraint,  the  com 
munity  can  subsist.  For  liberty  is  a  good  to  be  improved, 
and  not  an  evil  to  be  lessened.  It  is  not  only  a  private 
blessing  of  the  first  order,  but  the  vital  spring  and  energy  of 

25  the  state  itself,  which  has  just  so  much  life  and  vigour  as 
there  is  liberty  in  it.  But  whether  liberty  be  advantageous 
or  not,  (for  I  know  it  is  a  fashion  to  decry  the  very  prin 
ciple,)  none  will  dispute  that  peace  is  a  blessing ;  and  peace 
must  in  the  course  of  human  affairs  be  frequently  bought  by 

30  some  indulgence  and  toleration  at  least  to  liberty.  For  as 
the  sabbath  (though  of  Divine  institution)  was  made  for 


ON  THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  207 

man,  not  man  for  the  sabbath,  government,  which  can  claim 
no  higher  origin  or  authority,  in  its  exercise  at  least,  ought 
to  conform  to  the  exigences  of  the  time,  and  the  temper 
and  character  of  the  people,  with  whom  it  is  concerned ; 
and  not  always  to  attempt  violently  to  bend  the  people  to  5 
their  theories  of  subjection.  The  bulk  of  mankind  on  their 
part  are  not  excessively  curious  concerning  any  theories, 
whilst  they  are  really  happy  •  and  one  sure  symptom  of  an 
ill-conducted  state  is  the  propensity  of  the  people  to  resort 
to  them.  10 

But  when  subjects,  by  a  long  course  of  such  ill  conduct, 
are  once  thoroughly  inflamed,  and  the  state  itself  violently 
distempered,  the  people  must  have  some  satisfaction  to  their 
feelings  more  solid  than  a  sophistical  speculation  on  law  and 
government.  Such  was  our  situation ;  and  such  a  satisfac-  15 
tion  was  necessary  to  prevent  recourse  to  arms ;  it  was 
necessary  towards  laying  them  down ;  it  will  be  necessary  to 
prevent  the  taking  them  up  again  and  again.  Of  what  nature 
this  satisfaction  ought  to  be,  I  wish  it  had  been  the  disposi 
tion  of  parliament  seriously  to  consider.  It  was  certainly  a  2o 
deliberation  that  called  for  the  exertion  of  all  their  wisdom. 

I  am,  and  ever  have  been,  deeply  sensible  of  the  difficulty 
of  reconciling  the  strong  presiding  power,  that  is  so  useful 
towards  the  conservation  of  a  vast,  disconnected,  infinitely 
diversified  empire,  with  that  liberty  and  safety  of  the  prov-  25 
inces,  which  they  must  enjoy,  (in  opinion  and  practice  at 
least,)  or  they  will  not  be  provinces  at  all.     I  know,  and 
have  long  felt,   the   difficulty   of  reconciling  the  unwieldy 
haughtiness  of  a  great  ruling  nation,  habituated  to  command, 
pampered  by  enormous  wealth,  and  confident  from  a  long  30 
course  of  prosperity  and  victory,  to  the  high  spirit  of  free 


208          LETTER    TO    THE   SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

dependencies,  animated  with  the  first  glow  and  activity  of 
juvenile  heat,  and  assuming  to  themselves,  as  their  birth 
right,  some  part  of  that  very  pride  which  oppresses  them. 
They  who  perceive  no  difficulty  in  reconciling  these  tem- 

5  pers,  (which  however  to  make  peace  must  some  way  or  other 
be  reconciled,)  are  much  above  my  capacity,  or  much  below 
the  magnitude  of  the  business.  Of  one  thing  I  am  perfectly 
clear,  that  it  is  not  by  deciding  the  suit,  but  by  compromis 
ing  the  difference,  that  peace  can  be  restored  or  kept.  They 

10  who  would  put  an  end  to  such  quarrels,  by  declaring  roundly 
in  favour  of  the  whole  demands  of  either  party,  have  mis 
taken,  in  my  humble  opinion,  the  office  of  a  mediator. 

The  war  is  now  of  full  two  years'  standing ;  the  contro 
versy,  of  many  more.     In  different  periods  of  the  dispute, 

15  different  methods  of  reconciliation  were  to  be  pursued.  I 
mean  to  trouble  you  with  a  short  state  of  things  at  the  most 
important  of  these  periods,  in  order  to  give  you  a  more  dis 
tinct  idea  of  our  policy  with  regard  to  this  most  delicate  of 
all  objects.  The  colonies  were  from  the  beginning  subject 

20  to  the  legislature  of  Great  Britain,  on  principles  which  they 
never  examined ;  and  we  permitted  to  them  many  local 
privileges,  without  asking  how  they  agreed  with  that  legisla 
tive  authority.  Modes  of  administration  were  formed  in  an 
insensible  and  very  unsystematic  manner.  But  they  gradu- 

25  ally  adapted  themselves  to  the  varying  condition  of  things.  — 
What  was  first  a  single  kingdom,  stretched  into  an  empire ; 
and  an  imperial  superintendency,  of  some  kind  or  other, 
became  necessary.  Parliament,  from  a  mere  representative 
of  the  people,  and  a  guardian  of  popular  privileges  for  its 

30  own  immediate  constituents,  grew  into  a  mighty  sovereign. 
Instead  of  being  a  control  on  the  crown  on  its  own  behalf, 


ON  THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  209 

it  communicated  a  sort  of  strength  to  the  royal  authority ; 
which  was  wanted  for  the  conservation  of  a  new  object,  but 
which  could  not  be  safely  trusted  to  the  crown  alone.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  colonies,  advancing  by  equal  steps,  and 
governed  by  the  same  necessity,  had  formed  within  them-  5 
selves,  either  by  royal  instruction  or  royal  charter,  assemblies 
so  exceedingly  resembling  a  parliament,  in  all  their  forms, 
functions,  and  powers,  that  it  was  impossible  they  should 
not  imbibe  some  opinion  of  a  similar  authority.1 

At  the  first  designation  of  these  assemblies,  they  were  10 
probably  not  intended  for  anything  more,  (nor  perhaps  did 
they  think  themselves  much  higher,)  than  the  municipal  cor 
porations  within  this  island,  to  which  some  at  present  love 
to  compare  them.     But  nothing  in  progression  can  rest  on 
its  original  plan.     We  may  as  well  think  of  rocking  a  grown  15 
man  in  the  cradle  of  an  infant.     Therefore  as  the  colonies 
prospered  and  increased  to  a  numerous  and  mighty  people, 
spreading  over  a  very  great  tract  of  the  globe  ;  it  was  natural 
that  they  should  attribute  to  assemblies,  so  respectable  in 
their  formal  constitution,  some  part  of  the  dignity  of  the  20 
great  nations  which  they  represented.    No  longer  tied  to  by 
laws,  these  assemblies  made  acts  of  all  sorts  and  in  all  cases 
whatsoever.    They  levied  money,  not  for  parochial  purposes, 
but  upon  regular  grants  to  the  crown,  following  all  the  rules 
and  principles  of  a  parliament  to  which  they  approached  25 
every  day  more  and  more  nearly.     Those  who  think  them 
selves  wiser  than  Providence,  and  stronger  than  the  course 
of  nature,  may  complain  of  all  this  variation,  on  the  one  side 
or  the  other,  as  their  several  humours  and  prejudices  may 
lead  them.     But  things  could  not  be  otherwise  ;  and  English  30 
colonies  must  be  had  on  these  terms,  or  not  had  at  all.     In 


210          LETTER    TO    THE  SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

the  mean  time,  neither  party  felt  any  inconvenience  from 
this  double  legislature,  to  which  they  had  been  formed  by 
imperceptible  habits,  and  old  custom,  the  great  support  of 
all  the  governments  in  the  world.  Though  these  two  legis- 

5  latures  were  sometimes  found  perhaps  performing  the  very 
same  functions,  they  did  not  very  grossly  or  systematically 
clash.  In  all  likelihood  this  arose  from  mere  neglect ;  pos 
sibly  from  the  natural  operation  of  things,  which,  left  to 
themselves,  generally  fall  into  their  proper  order.  But  what- 

10  ever  was  the  cause,  it  is  certain  that  a  regular  revenue,  by  the 
authority  of  parliament,  for  the  support  of  civil  and  military 
establishments,  seems  not  to  have  been  thought  of  until  the 
colonies  were  too  proud  to  submit,  too  strong  to  be  forced, 
too  enlightened  not  to  see  all  the  consequences  which  must 

15  arise  from  such  a  system. 

If  ever  this  scheme  of  taxation  was  to  be  pushed  against 
the  inclinations  of  the  people,  it  was  evident  that  discussions 
must  arise,  which  would  let  loose  all  the  elements  that  com 
posed  this  double  constitution ;  would  show  how  much  each 

20  of  their  members  had  departed  from  its  original  principles ; 

and  would  discover  contradictions  in   each  legislature,  as 

well  to  its  own  first  principles  as  to  its  relation  to  the  other, 

very  difficult,  if  not  absolutely  impossible,  to  be  reconciled. 

Therefore  at  the  first  fatal  opening  of  this  contest,  the 

25  wisest  course  seemed  to  be  to  put  an  end  as  soon  as  possi 
ble  to  the  immediate  causes  of  the  dispute ;  and  to  quiet  a 
discussion,  not  easily  settled  upon  clear  principles,  and  aris 
ing  from  claims,  which  pride  would  permit  neither  party  to 
abandon,  by  resorting  as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  old,  suc- 

30  cessful  course.  A  mere  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  tax,  with  a 
declaration  of  the  legislative  authority  of  this  kingdom,  was 


ON  THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  211 

then  fully  sufficient  to  procure  peace  to  both  sides.  Man  is 
a  creature  of  habit,  and,  the  first  breach  being  of  very  short 
continuance,  the  colonies  fell  back  exactly  into  their  ancient 
state.  The  congress  has  used  an  expression  with  regard  to 
this  pacification,  which  appears  to  me  truly  significant.  After  5 
the  repeal  of  the  stamp  act,  "  the  colonies  fell,"  says  this 
assembly,  "  into  their  ancient  state  of  unsuspecting  confidence 
in  the  mother  country" l  This  unsuspecting  confidence  is 
the  true  centre  of  gravity  amongst  mankind,  about  which  all 
the  parts  are  at  rest.  It  is  this  unsuspecting  confidence  that  10 
removes  all  difficulties,  and  reconciles  all  the  contradictions 
which  occur  in  the  complexity  of  all  ancient,  puzzled,  polit 
ical  establishments.  Happy  are  the  rulers  which  have  the 
secret  of  preserving  it ! 

The  whole  empire  has  reason  to  remember,  with  eternal  15 
gratitude,  the  wisdom  and  temper  of  that  man2  and  his  excel 
lent  associates,  who,  to  recover  this  confidence,  formed  a 
plan  of  pacification  in  1766.     That  plan,  being  built  upon 
the  nature  of  man,  and  the  circumstances  and  habits  of  the 
two  countries,  and  not  on  any  visionary  speculations,  per-  20 
fectly  answered  its  end,  as  long  as  it  was  thought  proper 
to  adhere  to  it.     Without  giving  a  rude  shock  to  the  dig 
nity  (well  or  ill  understood)  of  this  parliament,  they  gave  per 
fect  content  to  our  dependencies.     Had  it  not  been  for  the 
mediatorial  spirit  and  talents  of  that  great  man,  between  25 
such  clashing  pretensions  and  passions,  we  should  then  have 
rushed  headlong  (I  know  what  I  say)  into  the  calamities  of 
that  civil  war,  in  which,  by  departing  from  his  system,  we 
are  at  length-  involved ;  and  we  should  have  been  precipi 
tated  into  that  war,  at  a  time  when  circumstances  both  at  30 
home  and  abroad  were  far,  very  far,  more  unfavourable 


212  LETTER    TO    THE   SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

unto  us  than  they  were  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  present 
troubles. 

I  had  the  happiness  of  giving  my  first  votes  in  parliament 
for  their  pacification.  I  was  one  of  those  almost  unanimous 

5  members,  who,  in  the  necessary  concessions  of  parliament, 
would  as  much  as  possible  have  preserved  its  authority,  and 
respected  its  honour.  I  could  not  at  once  tear  from  my 
heart  prejudices  which  were  dear  to  me,  and  which  bore  a 
resemblance  to  virtue.  I  had  then,  and  I  have  still,  my 

10  partialities.  What  parliament  gave  up,  I  wished  to  be  given 
as  of  grace,  and  favour,  and  affection,  and  not  as  a  restitution 
of  stolen  goods.  High  dignity  relented  as  it  was  soothed ; 
and  a  benignity  from  old  acknowledged  greatness  had  its 
full  effect  on  our  dependencies.  Our  unlimited  declaration 

15  of  legislative  authority  produced  not  a  single  murmur.  If 
this  undefined  power  has  become  odious  since  that  time,  and 
full  of  horror  to  the  colonies,  it  is  because  the  unsuspicious 
confidence  is  lost,  and  the  parental  affection,  in  the  bosom  of 
whose  boundless  authority  they  reposed  their  privileges,  is 

20  become  estranged  and  hostile. 

It  will  be  asked,  if  such  was  then  my  opinion  of  the  mode 
of  pacification,  how  I  came  to  be  the  very  person  who  moved, 
not  only  for  a  repeal  of  all  the  late  coercive  statutes,  but  for 
mutilating,  by  a  positive  law,  the  entireness  of  the  legislative 

25  power  of  parliament,  and  cutting  off  from  it  the  whole  right 
of  taxation?  I  answer,  because  a  different  state  of  things 
requires  a  different  conduct.  When  the  dispute  had  gone  to 
these  last  extremities,  (which  no  man  laboured  more  to  pre 
vent  than  I  did,)  the  concessions  which  had  satisfied  in  the 

30  beginning,  could  satisfy  no  longer ;  because  the  violation  of 
tacit  faith  required  explicit  security.  The  same  cause  which 


ON   THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  213 

has  introduced  all  formal  compacts  and  covenants  among 
men  made  it  necessary.  I  mean  habits  of  soreness,  jealousy, 
and  distrust.  I  parted  with  it,  as  with  a  limb  ;  but  as  a  limb 
to  save  the  body ;  and  I  would  have  parted  with  more,  if 
more  had  been  necessary ;  anything  rather  than  a  fruitless,  5 
hopeless,  unnatural  civil  war.  This  mode  of  yielding  would, 
it  is  said,  give  way  to  independency,  without  a  war.  I  am 
persuaded  from  the  nature  of  things,  and  from  every  infor 
mation,  that  it  would  have  had  a  directly  contrary  effect.  But 
if  it  had  this  effect,  I  confess  that  I  should  prefer  independ-  10 
ency  without  war,  to  independency  with  it ;  and  I  have  so 
much  trust  in  the  inclinations  and  prejudices  of  mankind, 
and  so  little  in  anything  else,  that  I  should  expect  ten  times 
more  benefit  to  this  kingdom  from  the  affection  of  America, 
though  under  a  separate  establishment,  than  from  her  perfect  15 
submission  to  the  crown  and  parliament,  accompanied  with 
her  terror,  disgust,  and  abhorrence.  Bodies  tied  together 
by  so  unnatural  a  bond  of  union  as  mutual  hatred,  are  only 
connected  to  their  ruin. 

One  hundred  and  ten  respectable  members  of  parliament  20 
voted  for  that  concession.      Many  not  present,  when  the 
motion  was  made,  were  of  the  sentiments  of  those  who 
voted.     I  knew  it  would  then  have  made  peace.     I  am  not 
without  hopes  that  it  would  do   so  at  present  if  it  were 
adopted.    No  benefit,  no  revenue,  could  be  lost  by  it ;  some-  25 
thing  might  possibly  be  gained  by  its  consequences.     For 
be  fully  assured,  that,  of  all  the  phantoms  that  ever  deluded 
the  fond  hopes  of  a  credulous  world,  a  parliamentary  revenue 
in  the  colonies  is  the  most  perfectly  chimerical.   Your  break 
ing  them  to  any  subjection,  far  from  relieving  your  burthens,  30 
(the  pretext  for  this  war,)  will  never  pay  that  military  force 


214          LETTER    TO    THE  SHERIFFS  OF  BRISTOL 

which  will  be  kept  up  to  the  destruction  of  their  liberties  and 
yours.     I  risk  nothing  in  this  prophecy. 

Gentlemen,  you  have  my  opinion  on  the  present  state  of 
public  affairs.     Mean  as  they  may  be  in  themselves,  your 

5  partiality  has  made  them  of  some  importance.  Without 
troubling  myself  to  inquire  whether  I  am  under  a  formal 
obligation  to  it,  I  have  a  pleasure  in  accounting  for  my  con 
duct  to  my  constituents.  I  feel  warmly  on  this  subject,  and 
I  express  myself  as  I  feel.  If  I  presume  to  blame  any 

10  public  proceeding,  I  cannot  be  supposed  to  be  personal. 
Would  to  God  I  could  be  suspected  of  it.  My  fault  might 
be  greater,  but  the  public  calamity  would  be  less  extensive. 
If  my  conduct  has  not  been  able  to  make  any  impression  on 
the  warm  part  of  that  ancient  and  powerful  party,  with  whose 

15  support  I  was  not  honoured  at  my  election ;  on  my  side,  my 
respect,  regard,  and  duty  to  them  is  not  at  all  lessened.  I 
owe  the  gentlemen  who  compose  it  my  most  humble  ser 
vice  in  everything.  I  hope  that  whenever  any  of  them  were 
pleased  to  command  me,  that  they  found  me  perfectly  equal 

20  in  my  obedience.  But  flattery  and  friendship  are  very  dif 
ferent  things  ;  and  to  mislead  is  not  to  serve  them.  I  can 
not  purchase  the  favour  of  any  man  by  concealing  from  him 
what  I  think  his  ruin.  By  the  favour  of  my  fellow-citizens, 
I  am  the  representative  of  an  honest,  well-ordered,  virtuous 

25  city ;  of  a  people,  who  preserve  more  of  the  original  English 
simplicity,  and  purity  of  manners,  than  perhaps  any  other. 
You  possess  among  you  several  men  and  magistrates  of  large 
and  cultivated  understandings  ;  fit  for  any  employment  in  any 
sphere.  I  do,  to  the  best  of  my  power,  act  so  as  to  make 

3o  myself  worthy  of  so  honourable  a  choice.  If  I  were  ready, 
on  any  call  of  my  own  vanity  or  interest,  or  to  answer  any 


ON  THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  215 

election  purpose,  to  forsake  principles,  (whatever  they  are,) 
which  I  had  formed  at  a  mature  age,  on  full  reflection,  and 
which  had  been  confirmed  by  long  experience,  I  should  for 
feit  the  only  thing  which  makes  you  pardon  so  many  errors 
and  imperfections  in  me.  Not  that  I  think  it  fit  for  any  5 
one  to  rely  too  much  on  his  own  understanding ;  or  to  be 
filled  with  a  presumption,  not  becoming  a  Christian  man,  in 
his  own  personal  stability  and  rectitude. 

I  hope  I  am  far  from  that  vain  confidence,  which  almost 
always  fails  in  trial.     I  know  my  weakness  in  all  respects,  as  I0 
much  at  least  as  any  enemy  I  have ;  and  I  attempt  to  take 
security  against  it.     The  only  method  which  has  ever  been 
found  effectual  to  preserve  any  man  against  the  corruption  of 
nature  and  example,  is  an  habit  of  life  and  communication 
of  counsels  with  the  most  virtuous  and  public-spirited  men  I5 
of  the  age  you  live  in.     Such  a  society  cannot  be  kept  with 
out  advantage,  or  deserted  without  shame.     For  this  rule  of 
conduct  I  may  be  called  in  reproach  a  party  man;  but  I  am 
little  affected  with  such  aspersions.     In  the  way  which  they 
call  party,  I  worship  the  constitution  of  your  fathers ;  and  I  20 
shall  never  blush  for  my  political  company.     All  reverence 
to  honour,  all  idea  of  what  it  is,-  will  be  lost  out  of  the  world, 
before  it  can  be  imputed  as  a  fault  to  any  man,  that  he  has 
been  closely  connected  with  those  incomparable  persons, 
living  and  dead,  with  whom  for  eleven  years  I  have  constantly  2$ 
thought  and  acted.     If  I  have  wandered  out  of  the  paths  of 
rectitude  into  those  of  interested  faction,  it  was  in  company 
with  the  Saviles,  the  Dowdeswells,  the  Wentworths,  the  Ben- 
tincks;1  with  the  Lenoxes,  the  Manchesters,  the  Keppels, 
the  Saunderses ;  with  the  temperate,  permanent,  hereditary  3o 
virtue  of  the  whole  House  of  Cavendish;2  names,  among 


216          LETTER    TO    THE  SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

which,  some  have  extended  your  fame  and  empire  in  arms, 
and  all  have  fought  the  battle  of  your  liberties  in  fields  not 
less  glorious.  —  These,  and  many  more  like  these,  grafting 
public  principles  on  private  honour,  have  redeemed  the  pres- 

5  ent  age,  and  would  have  adorned  the  most  splendid  period 
in  your  history.  Where  could  any  man,  conscious  of  his 
own  inability  to  act  alone,  and  willing  to  act  as  he  ought  to 
do,  have  arranged  himself  better?  If  any  one  thinks  this 
kind  of  society  to  be  taken  up  as  the  best  method  of  gratify- 

10  ing  low,  personal  pride,  or  ambitious  interest,  he  is  mistaken  ; 
and  he  knows  nothing  of  the  world. 

Preferring  this  connexion,  I  do  not  mean  to  detract  in 
the  slightest  degree  from  others.  There  are  some  of  those, 
whom  I  admire  at  something  of  a  greater  distance,  with 

15  whom  I  have  had  the  happiness  also  perfectly  to  agree,  in 
almost  all  the  particulars,  in  which  I  have  differed  with  some 
successive  administrations ;  and  they  are  such,  as  it  never 
can  be  reputable  to  any  government  to  reckon  among  its 
enemies.  I  hope  there  are  none  of  you  corrupted  with  the 

20  doctrine  taught  by  wicked  men  for  the  worst  purposes,  and 
received  by  the  malignant  credulity  of  envy  and  ignorance, 
which  is,  that  the  men  who  act  upon  the  public  stage  are  all 
alike ;  all  equally  corrupt ;  all  influenced  by  no  other  views 
than  the  sordid  lure  of  salary  and  pension.  The  thing  I 

25  know  by  experience  to  be  false.  Never  expecting  to  find 
perfection  in  men,  and  not  looking  for  Divine  attributes  in 
created  beings,  in  my  commerce  with  my  contemporaries,  I 
have  found  much  human  virtue.  I  have  seen  not  a  little 
public  spirit ;  a  real  subordination  of  interest  to  duty ;  and 

30  a  decent  and  regulated  sensibility  to  honest  fame  and  repu 
tation.  The  age  unquestionably  produces  (whether  in  a 


ON   THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  217 

greater  or  less  number  than  former  times,  I  know  not) 
daring  profligates,  and  insidious  hypocrites.  What  then? 
Am  I  not  to  avail  myself  of  whatever  good  is  to  be  found 
in  the  world,  because  of  the  mixture  of  evil  that  will  always 
be  in  it?  The  smallness  of  the  quantity  in  currency  only  5 
heightens  the  value.  They  who  raise  suspicions  on  the 
good  on  account  of  the  behaviour  of  ill  men,  are  of  the 
party  of  the  latter.  The  common  cant  is  no  justification  for 
taking  this  party.  I  have  been  deceived,  say  they,  by  Titius 
and  Mcevius ;  I  have  been  the  dupe  of  this  pretender  or  of  10 
that  mountebank ;  and  I  can  trust  appearances  no  longer. 
But  my  credulity  and  want  of  discernment  cannot,  as  I 
conceive,  amount  to  a  fair  presumption  against  any  man's 
integrity.  A  conscientious  person  would  rather  doubt  his 
own  judgment,  than  condemn  his  species.  He  would  say,  I  15 
have  observed  without  attention,  or  judged  upon  erroneous 
maxims ;  I  trusted  to  profession,  when  I  ought  to  have 
attended  to  conduct.  Such  a  man  will  grow  wise,  not  ma 
lignant,  by  his  acquaintance  with  the  world.  But  he  that 
accuses  all  mankind  of  corruption,  ought  to  remember  that  20 
he  is  sure  to  convict  only  one.  In  truth  I  should  much 
rather  admit  those,  whom  at  any  time  I  have  disrelished  the 
most,  to  be  patterns  of  perfection,  than  seek  a  consolation  to 
my  own  unworthiness,  in  a  general  communion  of  depravity 
with  all  about  me.  25 

That  this  ill-natured  doctrine  should  be  preached  by  the 
missionaries  of  a  court,  I  do  not  wonder.  It  answers  their 
purpose.  But  that  it  should  be  heard  among  those  who  pre 
tend  to  be  strong  assertors  of  liberty,  is  not  only  surprising, 
but  hardly  natural.  This  moral  levelling  is  a  servile  principle.  30 
It  leads  to  practical  passive  obedience  far  better  than  all  the 


218          LETTER    TO    THE  SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

doctrines  which  the  pliant  accommodation  of  theology  to 
power  has  ever  produced.  It  cuts  up  by  the  roots,  not  only 
all  idea  of  forcible  resistance,  but  even  of  civil  opposition. 
It  disposes  men  to  an  abject  submission,  not  by  opinion, 
5  which  may  be  shaken  by  argument  or  altered  by  passion, 
but  by  the  strong  ties  of  public  and  private  interest.  For  if 
all  men  who  act  in  a  public  situation  are  equally  selfish,  cor 
rupt,  and  venal,  what  reason  can  be  given  for  desiring  any 
sort  of  change,  which,  besides  the  evils  which  must  attend 
jo  all  changes,  can  be  productive  of  no  possible  advantage? 
The  active  men  in  the  state  are  true  samples  of  the  mass. 
If  they  are  universally  depraved,  the  commonwealth  itself  is 
not  sound.  We  may  amuse  ourselves  with  talking  as  much 
as  we  please  of  the  virtue  of  middle  or  humble  life  ;  that  is, 
15  we  may  place  our  confidence  in  the  virtue  of  those  who 
have  never  been  tried.  But  if  the  persons  who  are  continu 
ally  emerging  out  of  that  sphere,  be  no  better  than  those 
whom  birth  has  placed  above  it,  what  hopes  are  there  in  the 
remainder  of  the  body,  which  is  to  furnish  the  perpetual  sue- 
so  cession  of  the  state  ?  All  who  have  ever  written  on  govern 
ment  are  unanimous,  that  among  a  people  generally  corrupt, 
liberty  cannot  long  exist.  And  indeed  how  is  it  possible  ? 
when  those  who  are  to  make  the  laws,  to  guard,  to  enforce,  or 
to  obey  them,  are,  by  a  tacit  confederacy  of  manners,  indis- 
25  posed  to  the  spirit  of  all  generous  and  noble  institutions. 

I  am  aware  that  the  age  is  not  what  we  all  wish.  But  I 
am  sure,  that  the  only  means  of  checking  its  precipitate 
degeneracy,  is  heartily  to  concur  with  whatever  is  the  best 
in  our  time  :  and  to  have  some  more  correct  standard  of 
30  judging  what  that  best  is,  than  the  transient  and  uncertain 
favour  of  a  court.  If  once  we  are  able  to  find,  and  can  pre- 


ON   THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA  219 

vail  on  ourselves  to  strengthen,  an  union  of  such  men,  what 
ever  accidentally  becomes  indisposed  to  ill-exercised  power, 
even  by  the  ordinary  operation  of  human  passions,  must  join 
with  that  society,  and  cannot  long  be  joined  without  in  some 
degree  assimilating  to  it.  Virtue  will  catch  as  well  as  vice  5 
by  contact ;  and  the  public  stock  of  honest,  manly  principle 
will  daily  accumulate.  We  are  not  too  nicely  to  scrutinize 
motives  as  long  as  action  is  irreproachable.  It  is  enough 
(and  for  a  worthy  man  perhaps  too  much)  to  deal  out  its 
infamy  to  convicted  guilt  and  declared  apostasy.  10 

This,  gentlemen,  has  been  from  the  beginning  the  rule  of 
my  conduct ;  and  I  mean  to  continue  it,  as  long  as  such  a 
body  as  I  have  described  can  by  any  possibility  be  kept 
together;  for  I  should  think  it  the  most  dreadful  of  all 
offences,  not  only  towards  the  present  generation,  but  to  all  15 
the  future,  if  I  were  to  do  anything  which  could  make  the 
minutest  breach  in  this  great  conservatory  of  free  principles. 
Those  who  perhaps  have  the  same  intentions,  but  are  sepa 
rated  by  some  little  political  animosities,  will  I  hope  discern 
at  last,  how  little  conducive  it  is  to  any  rational  purpose,  to  20 
lower  its  reputation.  For  my  part,  gentlemen,  from  much 
experience,  from  no  little  thinking,  and  from  comparing  a 
great  variety  of  things,  I  am  thoroughly  persuaded,  that  the 
last  hopes  of  preserving  the  spirit  of  the  English  constitution, 
or  of  reuniting  the  dissipated  members  of  the  English  race  25 
upon  a  common  plan  of  tranquillity  and  liberty,  does  entirely 
depend  on  their  firm  and  lasting  union ;  and  above  all,  on 
their  keeping  themselves  from  that  despair,  which  is  so  very 
apt  to  fall  on  those,  whom  a  violence  of  character  and  a 
mixture  of  ambitious  views  do  not  support  through  a  long,  30 
painful,  and  unsuccessful  struggle. 


220          LETTER    TO    THE    SHERIFFS   OF  BRISTOL 

There  never,  gentlemen,  was  a  period  in  which  the  sted- 
fastness  of  some  men  has  been  put  to  so  sore  a  trial.  It  is 
not  very  difficult  for  well-formed  minds  to  abandon  their 
interest ;  but  the  separation  of  fame  and  virtue  is  a  harsh 

5  divorce.1  Liberty  is  in  danger  of  being  made  unpopular  to 
Englishmen.  Contending  for  an  imaginary  power,  we  begin 
to  acquire  the  spirit  of  domination,  and  to  lose  the  relish  of 
honest  equality.  The  principles  of  our  forefathers  become 
suspected  to  us,  because  we  see  them  animating  the  present 

10  opposition  of  our  children.  The  faults  which  grow  out  of 
the  luxuriance  of  freedom  appear  much  more  shocking  to 
us  than  the  base  vices  which  are  generated  from  the  rank- 
ness  of  servitude.  Accordingly  the  least  resistance  to  power 
appears  more  inexcusable  in  our  eyes  than  the  greatest 

15  abuses  of  authority.  All  dread  of  a  standing  military  force 
is  looked  upon  as  a  superstitious  panic.  All  shame  of  call 
ing  in  foreigners  and  savages  in  a  civil  contest  is  worn  off. 
We  grow  indifferent  to  the  consequences  inevitable  to  our 
selves  from  the  plan  of  ruling  half  the  empire  by  a  mercenary 

20  sword.  We  are  taught  to  believe,  that  a  desire  of  domineer 
ing  over  our  countrymen  is  love  to  our  country ;  that  those 
who  hate  civil  war  abate  rebellion,  and  that  the  amiable  and 
conciliatory  virtues  of  lenity,  moderation,  and  tenderness  to 
the  privileges  of  those  who  depend  on  this  kingdom,  are  a 

25  sort  of  treason  to  the  state. 

It  is  impossible  that  we  should  remain  long  in  a  situation, 
which  breeds  such  notions  and  dispositions,  without  some 
great  alteration  in  the  national  character.  Those  ingenuous 
and  feeling  minds  who  are  so  fortified  against  all  other 

30  things,  and  so  unarmed  to  whatever  approaches  in  the  shape 
of  disgrace,  finding  these  principles,  which  they  considered 


ON  THE  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  221 

as  sure  means  of  honour,  to  be  grown  into  disrepute,  will 
retire  disheartened  and  disgusted.  Those  of  a  more  robust 
make,  the  bold,  able,  ambitious  men,  who  pay  some  of  their 
court  to  power  through  the  people,  and  substitute  the  voice 
of  transient  opinion  in  the  place  of  true  glory,  will  give  in  to  5 
the  general  mode  ;  and  those  superior  understandings  which 
ought  to  correct  vulgar  prejudice,  will  confirm  and  aggravate 
its  errors.  Many  things  have  been  long  operating  towards 
a  gradual  change  in  our  principles.  But  this  American  war 
has  done  more  in  a  very  few  years,  than  all  the  other  causes  10 
could  have  effected  in  a  century.  It  is  therefore  not  on  its 
own  separate  account,  but  because  of  its  attendant  circum 
stances,  that  I  consider  its  continuance,  or  its  ending  in  any 
way  but  that  of  an  honourable  and  liberal  accommodation, 
as  the  greatest  evils  which  can  befall  us.  For  that  reason  15 
I  have  troubled  you  with  this  long  letter.  For  that  reason  I 
entreat  you  again  and  again,  neither  to  be  persuaded,  shamed, 
or  frighted  out  of  the  principles  that  have  hitherto  led  so 
many  of  you  to  abhor  the  war,  its  cause,  and  its  consequences. 
Let  us  not  be  among  the  first  who  renounce  the  maxims  of  20 
our  forefathers. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  gentlemen,  your  most  obedient 
and  faithful  humble  servant, 

EDMUND  BURKE. 

BEACONSFIELD,  April  3,  1777.  25 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 

1729-1797. 

Born  in  Dublin,  January,  1729. 

Early  Education. 

Enters  Dublin  University. 

Law  Studies  at  Middle  Temple. 

Early  Writings. 

In  Ireland  with  Hamilton. 

Secretary  to  Lord  Rockingham. 

Returned  to  Parliament  from  Wendover,  1765. 

Purchase  of  Beaconsfield. 

Agent  for  New  York. 

Visits  France. 

Attitude  toward  America. 

Returned  to  Parliament  from  Bristol,  October,  1774. 

Affairs  of  the  Catholics. 

American  War. 

Returned  to  Parliament  from  Malton,  1 780. 

Lord  Rector  of  the  University  of  Glasgow. 

Economical  Reform. 

Affairs  in  India. 

French  Revolution. 

Retirement  from  Public  Life,  1794. 

His  Son,  Richard,  succeeds  him  as  Member  for  Malton. 

Sudden  death  of  his  Son. 

Letter  to  a  Noble  Lord. 

Death,  1797. 


222 


MINISTRIES   DURING  BURKE'S   POLITICAL  LIFE. 

Rockingham  Ministry 1765 

Chatham  Ministry 1766 

Grafton  Ministry 1768 

North  Ministry 1770 

Rockingham  Ministry   .    „ 1782 

Shelburne  Ministry 1782 

Coalition  Ministry 1783 

Pitt  Ministry 1784 


A  GROUP   OF  BURKE'S   LITERARY  FRIENDS. 

Oliver  Goldsmith.  George  Crabbe. 

David  Garrick.  Edward  Gibbon. 

Samuel  Johnson.  R.  B.  Sheridan. 

Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  Benjamin  Franklin. 

223 


SCHEME   FOR  ANALYSIS  OF  STYLE. 


Divisions  of  Style. 

THE  SCIENTIFIC.  —  "  Ministers  to  our  instinct  for  Knowledge." 
THE  POETIC.—        "Ministers  to   our   instinct   for   Conduct  and 
Beauty." 

Elements  of  Style. 

VOCABULARY. 
THE  SENTENCE. 
FIGURES  OF  SPEECH. 
THE  PARAGRAPH. 


Qualities  of  Style. 

INTELLECTUAL.  —  Simplicity.  —  Clearness. 

(  Sublimity. 

IMPASSIONED.  —    Force      -s  Pathos. 
( Irony. 

(  Euphony. 

ARTISTIC.  —  Beauty    -j  Rhythm. 

(  Cadence. 

Processes. 

DESCRIPTION. 
NARRATION. 
EXPOSITION. 
PERSUASION. 

224 


NOTES. 


SPEECH  ON  AMERICAN  TAXATION. 

THE  real  significance  of  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  in  1766  was 
destroyed  by  the  passage  of  the  Declaratory  Act,  in  which  it  was  main 
tained  that  the  British  government  had  the  right  to  bind  the  colonies  in  all 
cases  whatsoever.  In  1 767  the  ministry  formed  a  new  scheme  of  taxation, 
and  imposed  a  duty  upon  glass,  paper,  paints,  and  tea.  This  caused  so 
much  agitation  in  the  colonies  that  Parliament  (1770)  decided  to  remove 
all  the  impositions  except  that  upon  tea.  But  the  Americans  were  not  to 
be  caught  in  such  a  trap,  and  accordingly  the  tea  was  not  allowed  to  be 
landed.  This  resistance  brought  down  a  message  from  the  throne,  the 
result  of  which  was  the  Boston  Port  Bill  and  the  bill  for  regulating  the 
Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  General  Gage  was  commissioned  to  pro 
ceed  to  Massachusetts  and  enforce  submission. 

Amid  the  passion  and  frenzy  of  these  times  was  heard  the  calm,  clear 
voice  of  Burke,  as  he  uttered  the  famous  sentence,  "The  honourable 
gentleman  has  asked,  'Should  not  America  belong  to  this  country?'  If 
we  have  equity,  wisdom,  and  justice,  it  will  belong  to  this  country;  if  we 
have  not,  it  will  not  belong  to  this  country." 

It  was  in  connection  with  this  subject  that  Mr.  Rose  Fuller,  member  for 
Rye,  made  the  following  motion,  on  April  19,  1774:  Moved,  "That  an  act 
made  in  the  seventh  year  of  the  reign  of  his  present  Majesty,  entituled  An 
act  for  granting  certain  duties  in  the  British  colonies  and  plantations  in 
America;  for  allowing  a  drawback  of  the  duties  of  customs  upon  the 
exportation  from  this  kingdom  of  coffee  and  cocoanuts;  of  the  produce  of 
the  said  colonies  or  plantations;  for  discontinuing  the  drawbacks  payable 
on  china  earthenware  exported  to  America;  and  for  more  effectually  pre- 
225 


226  NOTES. 

venting  the  clandestine  running  of  goods  in  the  said  colonies  and  planta 
tions,"  might  be  read. 

And  the  same  being  read,  he  moved,  "  That  this  House  will,  upon  the 
day  sevennight,  resolve  itself  into  a  committee  of  the  whole  House  to  take 
into  consideration  the  duty  of  ^d.  per  pound  weight  upon  tea,  payable  in 
all  His  Majesties  dominions  in  America,  imposed  by  the  said  act,  and  also 
the  appropriation  of  said  duty." 

The  drawback  alluded  to  above  was  granted  in  the  interest  of  the  East 
India  Company,  which  desired  free  exportation  in  order  to  relieve  its  over 
stocked  warehouses,  and  also  to  bribe  the  colonists  to  pay  the  3^.  per 
pound  on  the  tea,  which  George  III.  declared  was  levied  for  the  purpose 
of  keeping  up  the  right  of  imperial  taxation. 

When  the  news  came  that  the  tea  upon  which  the  royal  prerogative 
was  based  had  been  steeped  in  Massachusetts  Bay,  the  Privy  Council  was 
considering  the  petition  of  Massachusetts  for  the  removal  of  the  Governor 
and  Chief  Justice.  The  venerable  Dr.  Franklin  was  present  to  represent 
the  petitioners,  and  was  openly  insulted  by  the  solicitor-general.  Burke 
and  Dr.  Priestly,  who  witnessed  the  indignity,  were  greatly  grieved.  Cf. 
Bancroft,  III.,  Ch.  XXIII. ,  and  engraving,  "  Franklin  at  the  Court  of  St. 
James." 

On  Mr.  Fuller's  motion  to  repeal  the  3^.  tax  there  was  a  long  list  of 
speakers  in  opposition,  the  last  being  Charles  Wolfran  Cornwall,  one  of 
the  lords  of  the  treasury,  and  to  him  Burke  replied. 

PAGE  i,  1.  I.  I.   Cornwall,  member  for  Grampound. 

Line  12.  2.  This  exordium  is  most  admirable  when  viewed  in  the  light 
of  the  circumstances  attending  the  debate.  So  much  time  had  been  con 
sumed  by  the  previous  speakers  that  the  tired  members  had  betaken  them 
selves  to  the  lunch-rooms.  Burke  had  not  completed  these  few  ringing 
sentences  before  they  came  back  crowding  the  lobbies  and  staircases; 
while  the  American  agents  in  the  galleries  were  in  great  glee  at  the  pros 
pect  of  seeing  the  ministry  severely  scourged. 

L.  21.  3.  Previous  to  this  time  Cornwall  had  been  opposed  to  the  min 
istry  in  its  dealings  with  America.  He  had  deserted  Burke's  party  for  a 
position  in  the  treasury  bench.  Cf.  Chatham  Correspondence,  Vol.  IV. 

P.  2,  1.  20.  i.  To  this  request  of  Cornwall,  Burke  accedes  in  this  speech, 
and  gives  a  complete  history  of  principles  of  American  taxation. 


ON  TAXATION.  227 

P.  3,  1.  8.  I.  "I  wish  only  to  pursue  the  present  expediency  of  the 
measure,"  Cornwall  had  said. 

P.  4,  1.  14.  i.  Probably  the  colonies  would  not  have  made  any  opposi 
tion  to  duties  imposed  for  the  regulation  of  trade. 

P.  5,  1.  15.  i.    Lord  North,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. 

P.  6,  1.  22.  i.    Lord  North. 

P.  8,  1.  i.  I.  The  circular  letter  from  Lord  Hillsborough,  secretary  for 
the  colonies,  to  the  colonial  governors  concerning  the  repeal  of  some  of 
the  taxes  levied  in  the  Act  of  1767. 

L.  22.  2.  The  United  States  took  nearly  one-third  of  the  lead  exported. 
—  PAYNE. 

P.  9,  1.  17.  I.  Burke's  career  as  a  statesman  seems  to  have  been  an 
illustration  of  success,  "  through  large  and  liberal  ideas." 

P.  10,  1.  9.  I.    Cf.  History  of  the  East  India  Company. 

L.  12.  2.  The  commerce  of  the  East  with  Great  Britain  was  wholly  in 
the  hands  of  the  company. 

L.  14.  3.  The  company  had  agreed  to  pay  large  amounts  to  the  govern 
ment  for  its  privileges;  and  while  its  servants  became  wealthy,  the  com 
pany  itself  was  forced  to  beg.  Cf.  Fox's  India  Bill. 

L.  1 8.  4.  The  company  was  obliged  to  keep  a  great  supply  of  tea  in 
its  warehouses.  —  PAYNE. 

L.  24.  5.  In  April,  1772,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  make  inquiries 
into  the  affairs  of  the  company,  but  had  not  produced  any  good  results. 

P.  12,  1.  2.  i.  When  a  home  manufacture  was  subject  to  duty  and  was 
exported,  the  duty  was  drawn  back.  When  foreign  goods  were  brought 
into  the  country  to  be  exported,  the  duty  was  often  remitted. 

L.  13.  2.   Virgil's  sEneid,  VI.,  1.  726-7. 

P.  14,  1.  19.  I.  February,  1769.  The  original  purpose  of  this  act  was 
to  provide  for  the  trial  in  England  of  those  who  had  committed  crimes  at 
sea.  Cf.  Letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of  Bristol. 

P.  17,  1.  14.  i.  The  assembly  of  Virginia  replied  to  the  speech  of  the 
governor,  Lord  Botetourt,  as  follows:  "No,  my  Lord;  we  are  sure  oitr 
most  gracious  sovereign,  under  whatever  changes  may  happen  in  his  con 
fidential  servants,  will  remain  immutable  in  the  ways  of  truth  and  justice, 
and  that  he  is  incapable  of  deceiving  his  faithful  subjects. 

P.  18,  1.  14.  I.     Lord  North. 

P.  21, 1.  28.  I.    The  Isle  of  Man  became  an  English  possession,  1765.. 


228  NOTES. 

P.  23,  1.  28.  i.  "If  any  man  had  been  accustomed  to  regard  Mr. 
Burke  as  more  of  a  rhetorician  than  a  reasoner,  let  him  turn  back  and 
study  over  the  series  of  arguments  contained  in  this  first  head."  —  PRO 
FESSOR  GOODRICH. 

P.  24,  1.  23.  i.  Passed  under  Cromwell,  1651,  and  was  designed  to 
deprive  the  Dutch  of  the  carrying  trade,  by  prohibiting  the  importation 
into  England,  or  any  of  her  colonies,  \nforeign  vessels,  of  any  commodi 
ties  not  the  growth  of  the  respective  countries  in  whose  vessels  they  were 
imported. 

P.  26,  1.  9.  i.   Governor  of  Massachusetts  Bay. 

P.  32,  1.  20.  i.  "This  admirable  sketch  has  one  peculiarity  which  is 
highly  characteristic  of  Mr.  Burke.  It  does  not  so  much  describe  the 
objective  qualities  of  the  man,  as  the  formative  principles  of  his  character. 
The  same  also  is  true  respecting  the  sketch  of  Charles  Townsend  which 
follows,  and  to  some  extent  respecting  the  sketch  of  Lord  Chatham."  — 
PROFESSOR  GOODRICH. 

P.  34,  1.  7.  i.  English  colonists  had  carried  on  trade  in  British  manu 
factures  with  France  and  Spain.  This  violated  the  letter  of  the  Naviga 
tion  Act,  and  the  accused  were  to  be  tried  in  the  admiralty  courts,  and 
thus  be  deprived  of  trial  by  jury. 

L.  8.  2.  The  colonies  had  issued  paper  money  when  coin  was  withdrawn 
in  course  of  trade  with  England.  When  their  value  as  legal  tender  was 
destroyed  by  Grenville's  act,  much  hardship  was  the  result. 

L.  13.  3.  In  the  war  with  France,  the  Colonies  had  paid  toward  the 
debt  more  than  their  share. 

P.  35,  1.  29.  i.  That  Americans  did  object  to  the  principle  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  immediately  after  the  passage  of  the  act  Massachusetts  sent 
orders  to  her  agent  in  England  to  resist  any  such  innovations.  Other 
colonies  followed  her  example,  and  declared  their  opposition. 

P.  39,  1.  ii.  i.    Mr.    Burke   was   secretary  to   Lord   Rockingham  in 

I765- 

P.  40,  1.  6.  I.  Mr.  Charles  Yorke  accepted  the  office  of  Lord  Chancellor 
in  1770,  and  was  so  severely  criticised  for  his  desertion  that  he  committed 
suicide. 

P.  42,  1.  24.  i.   Mr.  Dowdeswell. 

L.  25.  2.    General  Conway. 

P.  44,  1.  4.  i.   General  Conway. 


ON   TAXATION.  229 

P.  45,  1.  n.  I.  Rockingham  was  in  ill  favor  with  the  king  because  of 
his  attempt  to  repeal  the  Stamp  Act,  and  because  he  had  not  provided  for 
the  king's  brothers. 

P.  46,  1.  17.  2.  General  Conway's  actions  had  made  this  rebuke  neces 
sary.  He  had  not  kept  his  faith  with  the  opposition;  he  was  a  deserter 
from  the  cause,  and  received  as  his  pay  the  generalship  of  Jersey. 

P.  50,  1.  20.  I.  It  was  the  deliberate  plan  of  the  English  press,  if  not 
the  pulpit,  to  break  down  the  influence  of  the  friends  of  America  by  repre 
senting  them  as  encouraging  sedition. 

P.  54,  1.  31.  i.  Lucan,  Pharsalia,  Book  IX.,  v.  202,  referring  to  Pompey. 
Cf.  Macaulay's  Essay  on  Chatham. 

P.  56,  1.  4.  I.  Lord  North  and  George  Cooke,  Esq.,  who  were  made  joint 
paymasters  on  the  removal  of  the  Rockingham  administration. 

P.  61,  1.  2.  I.  The  delicacy  with  which  Burke  here  treats  the  peculi 
arities  of  Townsend  will  be  appreciated  on  reading  Walpole's  Sketch,  in 
which  he  says :  "  Townsend  had  almost  every  great  talent,  and  every  little 
quality.  His  vanity  exceeded  even  his  abilities." 

P.  62,  1.  15.  i.  When  he  moved  his  resolutions  in  regard  to  America, 
May,  1770.  Cf.  Bancroft,  III.,  Ch.  XXIX. 

P.  64,  1.  19.  I.    Mr.  Fuller. 

P.  66,  1.  23.  i.  Lord  Carmarthen,  who,  during  the  debate,  said:  "The 
Americans  are  our  children,  and  how  can  they  revolt  againsi  their  parents? 
If  they  are  not  free  England  is  not  free." 

P.  71,  1.  6.  i.   Lord  North. 

L.  1 8.  2.   Mr.  Dowdeswell. 

Probably  for  breadth  of  grasp,  clearness  and  cogency  of  reasoning,  pro 
found  political  wisdom,  power  of  description,  and  biting  sarcasm,  together 
with  originality  and  independence,  this  speech  has  never  been  surpassed. 
The  scene  in  the  Commons  at  its  close  was  a  memorable  one.  Lord  John 
Townsend  exclaimed,  "  Heavens !  what  a  man  this  is !  Where  could  he 
acquire  such  transcendent  powers?"  George  Savile  said  that  it  was  the 
greatest  triumph  within  his  memory.  Colonel  Barre  said  that  if  it  was 
printed,  he  would  nail  it  to  every  church  door  in  the  kingdom. 

The  speech  was  not  printed  until  the  close  of  the  year,  because  the 
administration  claimed  that  much  of  the  trouble  in  America  was  due  to 
the  publication  in  England  of  writings  hostile  to  the  government. 

**  On  the  publication  of  this,  speech,"  says  MacKnight,  "  young  men  at 


230  NOTES. 

college,  philosophers  in  their  studies,  and  the  better  class  of  politicians 
became  more  than  ever  attracted  to  Burke." 

Mr.  Bancroft  says:  "This  speech  was  such  as  had  never  been  heard  in 
the  British  Parliament.  The  words  fell  from  him  as  burning  oracles;  and 
while  he  spoke  for  America  he  seemed  to  prepare  the  way  for  renovating 
the  constitution  of  England,  yet  it  was  not  so." 

Mr.  Fox  followed  Burke,  and  for  the  first  time  gave  his  voice  and  vote 
for  the  opposition.  On  the  division  just  the  number  that  had  stood  against 
the  Stamp  Act  stood  by  Burke  against  four  times  as  many  for  the  admin 
istration. 


SPEECH  ON  ARRIVAL  AT  BRISTOL. 

On  the  day  upon  which  Parliament  was  considering  the  motion  for  repeal 
of  the  tax  upon  tea,  the  people  of  New  York  sent  back  the  tea  ship. 

The  administration  passed  the  penal  measure,  requiring  all  offenders 
indicted  for  crime  in  the  colonies  to  be  transported  to  England  or  to  a 
British  colony  for  trial.  The  bill  legalizing  the  quartering  of  troops  in 
Boston  was  passed.  Burke  solemnly  renewed  his  protest  against  such 
recklessness  and  inhumanity. 

A  measure  for  the  government  of  Quebec  followed;  the  purpose  of  this 
was  to  prevent  the  colonies  from  extending  their  territory. 

"As  the  fleets  and  armies  of  England,"  says  Bancroft,  "went  forth  to 
consolidate  arbitrary  power,  the  sound  of  war  everywhere  died  away. 
Kings  sat  still  in  awe,  and  nations  turned  to  watch  the  issue." 

Affairs  in  America  were  fast  coming  to  a  crisis.  Revolution  was  at 
hand.  Boston  was  sustained,  and  preparations  were  made  for  a  general 
Congress  at  Philadelphia.  France  favored  the  cause  of  the  colonies.  In 
September,  1774,  Congress  assembled;  and  Patrick  Henry  sounded  the 
note  of  war,  when,  in  quoting  Hawley,  who  had  said,  "  After  all,  we  must 
fight,"  said,  "  I  am  of  that  man's  mind."  Virginia  nullified  the  Quebec 
act,  and  General  Gage  was  finding  that  it  would  be  no  easy  matter  to  en 
force  the  regulating  act.  The  thirteenth  Parliament  had  been  prorogued, 
and  then  suddenly  dissolved.  Burke  was  not  to  stand  for  Wendover  again, 
because  Lord  Verney,  who  controlled  the  district,  needed  to  dispose  of  it 
to  one  who  could  pay  for  the  privilege.  Accordingly  the  city  of  Bristol 


ON    CONCILIATION.  231 

asked  Burke  to  stand  in  place  of  Lord  Clare,  the  previous  member,  who 
declined  to  be  a  candidate  after  the  poll  had  been  open  two  days.  Burke 
was  about  to  stand  for  Malton,  but  immediately  drove  to  Bristol,  and 
ascended  the  hustings,  where  he  addressed  the  sheriffs  and  electors  in  this 
speech.  Mr.  Henry  Cruger,  a  Bristol  merchant,  was  his  colleague,  while 
Mr.  Brickdale,  one  of  the  last  members,  was  a  competitor. 


SPEECH  AT   THE    CONCLUSION  OF  THE  POLL. 

During  the  poll  each  candidate  personally  solicited  the  confidence  of 
the  electors,  and  at  its  close,  on  the  3d  of  November,  Burke  was  declared 
duly  elected. 

The  Whigs  carried  both  candidates.  Mr.  Brickdale  threatened  to  con 
test,  but  never  executed  the  threat.  Cruger  was  the  first  to  acknowledge 
his  indebtedness  to  the  electors,  and  expressed  his  willingness  to  be  ruled 
by  the  wishes  of  his  constituents;  but  Burke  resolutely  affirmed  his  right 
to  act,  not  merely  for  Bristol,  but  for  the  English  people.  Cf.  Webster's 
Reply  to  Hayne,  for  a  similar  principle  by  the  great  American  Senator. 

PAGE  80,  1.  15.  I.  Mr.  Brickdale  had  in  a  previous  poll  solicited  the 
favor  of  these  very  freemen. 


SPEECH  ON  CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICA. 

At  the  opening  of  the  fourteenth  Parliament,  Nov.  30,  1774,  reports 
from  New  England  showed  that  war  was  certain,  unless  speedy  movements 
were  made  to  crush  the  colonists.  General  Gage  was  instructed  to  act 
offensively,  and  Clinton  and  Burgoyne  were  appointed.  Franklin  vigor 
ously  urged  conciliation,  and  on  meeting  with  no  encouragement,  but  the 
rather  with  insult,  determined  to  return  to  America.  On  taking  leave  of 
Burke,  he  said,  "  I  lament  the  separation  between  Great  Britain  and  her 
colonies,  but  it  is  inevitable."  Petitions  from  merchants  from  all  parts  of 
England  were  presented  to  Parliament  for  a  reconciliation  before  trade 
was  ruined,  Bristol  taking  the  lead  under  the  guidance  of  Burke. 


232  NOTES. 

By  this  time  Lords  North  and  Chatham  began  to  think  that  reconcilia 
tion  must  be  attempted  in  some  form,  and  they  had  a  bill  passed  to  the 
effect  that  if  any  of  the  colonies  would  contribute  to  the  common  defence, 
the  right  of  taxation  would  be  suspended  in  that  colony.  The  offer  was 
spurned;  and  now  came  the  opportunity  for  Burke  and  his  party.  After 
frequent  consultations  at  the  house  of  Lord  Rockingham,  on  the  day  (22d) 
that  Franklin  was  sailing  out  of  the  harbor  at  Portsmouth,  Burke  stood 
forth  as  the  apostle  of  peace,  and  introduced  his  plan  of  reconciliation  in 
this  speech. 

P.  85,  1.  10.  i.  On  Feb.  10,  1775,  Lord  North  presented  an  address 
from  the  king,  asking  for  the  augmentation  of  his  forces,  and  then  pro 
posed  the  "  Act  to  restrain  the  trade  and  commerce  of  the  Provinces  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  and  New  Hampshire,  and  Colonies  of  Connecticut  and 
Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantation,  in  North  America,  to  Great 
Britain,  Ireland,  and  the  British  Islands  of  the  West  Indies;  and  to 
prohibit  such  provinces  and  colonies  from  carrying  on  any  fishing  on  the 
banks  of  Newfoundland,  and  other  places  therein  mentioned,  under  certain 
conditions  and  limitations." 

New  England  fishermen  were  to  be  excluded  from  a  line  of  industry  in 
•which  they  excelled  all  nations.  By  this  bill,  at  one  swoop,  thousands  were 
to  be  reduced  to  beggary.  Burke  protested  most  indignantly.  "The 
bread  of  the  needy,"  he  said,  "  is  their  life-blood.  He  who  depriveth 
them  of  it  is  a  man  of  blood." 

P.  86, 1.  28.  i.  In  1766,  on  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  by  the  Rock- 
ingham  administration. 

P.  87,  1.  20.  i.   Mr.  Rose  Fuller.     Cf.  Speech  on  American  Taxation. 

P.  90,  1.  22.  I.  "That  when  the  governor,  council,  or  assembly,  or 
general  court,  of  any  of  his  Majesty's  provinces  or  colonies  in  America, 
shall  propose  to  make  provision,  according  to  the  condition,  circumstances, 
and  situation  of  such  province  or  colony,  for  contributing  their  proportion 
to  the  common  defence  (such  proportion  to  be  raised  under  the  authority 
of  the  general  court  or  general  assembly  of  such  province  or  colony,  and 
disposable  by  Parliament),  and  shall  engage  to  make  provision  also  for  the 
support  of  the  civil  government  and  the  administration  of  justice,  in  such 
province  or  colony,  it  will  be  proper,  if  such  proposal  shall  be  approved  by 
his  Majesty  and  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament,  and  for  so  long  as  such 
provision  shall  be  made  accordingly,  to  forbear,  in  respect  of  such  province 


ON  CONCILIATION.  233 

or  colony,  to  levy  any  duty,  tax,  or  assessment,  or  to  impose  any  further 
duty,  tax,  or  assessment,  except  such  duties  as  it  may  be  expedient  to 
continue  to  levy  or  impose,  for  regulation  of  commerce;  the  net  produce 
of  the  duties  last  mentioned  to  be  carried  to  the  account  of  such  province 
or  colony  respectively."  —  Resolution  moved  by  Lord  North  on  the  com 
mittee;  and  agreed  to  by  the  House,  27th  February,  1775.  Lord  North 
wore  the  badge  of  the  Knight  of  the  Garter. 

P.  91,  1.  5.  i.  The  ministry  had  passed  an  address  to  the  king  in  which 
they  declared  that  Massachusetts  was  in  rebellion,  and  urged  his  Majesty 
to  take  immediate  action. 

P.  93,  1.  19.  i.  This  is  in  Burke's  best  style.  The  comparison  beauti 
fully  illustrates  the  idea,  and  justifies  his  assertion,  that  while  "  the  dispute 
continues,  the  exaggeration  ends."  —  PROFESSOR  GOODRICH. 

L.  26.  2.    "  De  minimis  von  curat  lex." 

P.  94,  1.  10.  i.  Mr.  Glover,  who  had  appeared  at  the  bar  in  support  of  a 
petition  from  West  Indian  planters  asking  for  peace  with  the  colonies, 
because  their  commerce  was  in  peril. 

P.  95,  1.  II.  I.    Slave  trade. 

2.  The  Spanish  Colonies,  in  spite  of  the  Act  of  Navigation,  carried  on 
trade  with  the  West  Indies. 

P.  97,  1.  I.  i.  Burke's  reasoning  here  seems  prophetic  when  considered 
in  the  light  of  the  latest  statistics  regarding  the  commerce  between  England 
and  the  United  States. 

L.  15.  2.  The  quotation  is  from  Virgil's  fourth  Eclogue,  where  the 
allusion  is  to  the  birth  of  a  child  by  the  sister  of  Augustus. 

L.  23.  3.    Henry,  created  Lord  Apsley  and  made  chancellor  in  1771. 

P.  98,  1.  17.  i.  Professor  Goodrich  questions  the  propriety  of  this  pas 
sage  and  the  following  one  upon  the  fisheries,  yet  are  they  not  the  very 
top  and  crown  of  Burke's  style  ! 

P.  99,  1.  23.  i.  Alluding  to  the  Roman  daughter  who,  when  her  father 
was  condemned  to  starve,  obtained  access  to  his  cell,  and  nourished  him 
from  her  own  breasts. 

P.  100, 1.  9.  i.  A  small  constellation  far  to  the  south. 

2.    Consult  American  Cyclopaedia,  Art.  "  Falkland  Islands." 

P.  101,  1.  3.  i.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  such  utterances  as  these  caused 
Burke  to  be  charged  with  being  an  American? 

P.  103, 1.  II.  i.    We  see  here  the  secret  of  Burke's  richness  of  thought. 


234  NOTES. 

It  consisted,  to  a  great  extent,  in  his  habit  of  viewing  things  in  their  causes 
or  tracing  them  out  in  their  results.  Let  the  reader  study  these  pages  with 
reference  to  this  fact.  —  PROFESSOR  GOODRICH. 

P.  1 06,  1.  4.  i.  Cf.  Matthew  Arnold's  effective  use  of  this  phrase  of 
Hooker's,  in  Culture  and  Anarchy. 

P.  107,  1.  10.  I.  Alluding  to  the  partition  of  Poland  by  Austria,  Prussia, 
and  Russia,  1772,  by  which  she  lost  her  national  independence. 

L.  1 8.  2.  For  illustration  of  this,  compare  the  number  of  lawyers  in  the 
first  and  in  the  last  Congress. 

P.  108,  1.  2.  i.  General  Gage  forbade  the  colonists  from  holding  any 
town  meetings  after  Aug.  I,  1774.  The  colonists  evaded  the  prohibition 
by  adjourning  over  the  ist,  and  thus  meeting,  but  not  under  a  call. 

L.  6.  2.   Thurlow,  the  attorney-general. 

L.  13.  3.    Cf.  Bacon's  Essay  on  Studies. 

L.  30.  4.    Horace,  Odes,  Book  IV.,  i,  "  Ministrum  fulminis  alitem." 

P.  109,  1.  19.  i.  Compare  this  statement  of  Burke  in  regard  to  Mon 
archies  and  Despotisms  with  Bryce's  Analysis  of  the  workings  of  the 
American  Constitution. — American  Commonwealth,  Vol.1.,  Part  I.,  Ch. 
XXVIII. 

P.  no,  1.  12.  I.   Hamlet,  Act  I.,  Sc.  V. 

P.  1 1 6, 1.  5.  I.   Juvenal,  Sat.  VIII. 

L.  31.  2.  An  illustration  of  what  Matthew  Arnold  says  of  Burke:  "He 
is  so  great  because,  almost  alone  in  England,  he  brings  thought  to  bear 
upon  politics;  he  saturates  politics  with  thought." 

P.    118,  1.  2.  i.   From  one  of  Dryden's  plays. 

L.  28.  2.  For  an  exhibition  of  coarse  and  brutal  treatment  Professor 
Goodrich  gives  the  following  from  Howell's  State  Trials,  Vol.  II. :  "  Coke  : 
I  will  prove  you  the  notoriest  traitor  that  ever  came  to  the  bar.  Raleigh  : 
Your  words  cannot  condemn  me;  my  innocency  is  my  defence.  Coke: 
Thou  art  a  monster.  Thou  hast  an  English  face  but  a  Spanish  heart." 

P.  119,  1.  17.  i.    From  the  very  significance  of  the  term. 

P.  122, 1.  15.  I.  Burke  has  often  been  accused  of  too  much  refining  in 
his  speeches,  but  a  careful  study  of  his  works  will  reveal  the  fact  that  he 
seldom  anatomizes;  he  everywhere  deals  with  broad  principles,  profound, 
permanent,  fruitful. 

P.  123, 1.  3.  I.   Paradise  Lost,  II.,  592-3. 

L.  19.  2.  His  statesmanship  rises  above  petty  maxims,  such  as  men 


ON  CONCILIATION.  235 

resort  to  who  think  that  suspicion  is  the  great  law  of  life,  and  that  the 
more  advantages  you  can  take  of  your  neighbor,  the  better  it  is  for  your 
self.  —  MAURICE. 

P.  125,  1.  2.  i.   Mr.  Rice. 

P.  126,  1.  4.  i.  By  Dean  Tucker.  Cf.  MacKnight,  Vol.  II.,  Ch.  XXII., 
p.  1 1 5  et  seq. 

P.  128,  1.  1 6.  i.  The  Witenagemote  was  the  Parliament  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxons.  Cf.  Stubb's  Constitutional  History,  Vol.  I.,  Ch.  VI. 

P.  129,  1.  2.  i.  English  settlers  in  Ireland  after  the  invasion  of  Strong- 
bow  kept  themselves,  within  certain  limits,  distinct  from  the  natives  called 
the  "  Pale."  They  enjoyed  English  law  while  the  natives  were  denied  it. 
—  PROFESSOR  GOODRICH. 

P.  130,  1.  9.  i.  Cf.  Green's  Short  History  of  the  English  People,  Ch. 
IV. 

P.  132,  1.  12.  i.  Read  the  "Famous  history  of  the  revenue  adventures 
of  the  Bold  Baron  North  and  the  good  Knight  Probert  upon  the  moun 
tains  of  Venodotia,"  as  so  graphically  given  by  Burke  in  his  speech  on 
Economical  Reform. 

L.  22.  2.  Horace,  Ode  to  Atigustus  Casar,  Book  I.,  12.  A  comparison 
of  the  peaceful  influence  of  Augustus  to  that  of  the  twins  Castor  and 
Pollux  upon  storms  at  sea. 

P.  134,  1.  19.  i.   Cf.  Burke's  Speech  on  Economical  Reform. 

P.  138,  1.  5.  i.    Horace,  Sat.,  L,  2. 

L.  n.  2.   Ex.  xx.  25. 

L.  1 8.  3.  St.  Paul,  i  Epis.  to  Cor.  iv.  6,  Revised  Version,  "That  in  us 
ye  might  learn  not  to  go  beyond  the  things  which  are  written." 

L.  19.  4.  St.  Paul,  2  Epis.  to  Tim.  i.  13,  Revised  Version,  "Hold  the 
pattern  of  sound  words." 

P.  141, 1.  21.  i.    Journals  of  the  House,  Vol.  XXII. 

P.  142,  1.  2.  i.    Journals  of  the  House,  Vol.  XXVII. 

L.  II.  2.    Ibid. 

L.  29.  3.  It  was  claimed  that  the  colonies  could  not  legally  make  grants 
to  the  Crown  because  it  made  the  king  independent  of  Parliament.  Gren- 
ville  and  others  were  of  this  opinion.  Hence  Burke  insists  upon  these 
precedents.  —  PROFESSOR  GOODRICH. 

P.  148,  1.  22.  i.  The  solicitor-general  informed  Mr.  Burke  when  the 
resolutions  were  separately  moved  that  the  grievance  of  the  judges  pa*- 


236  NOTES. 

taking  of  the  profits  of  the  seizure  had  been  redressed  by  office;  accord 
ingly  the  resolution  was  amended. 

P.  150,  1.  31.  i.    Othello,  Act.  III.,  Sc.  V. 

P.  152,  1.  25.  i.    Lord  North. 

P-  I53>  1-  9-  i-   "  Trial  should  be  made  with  a  worthless  subject." 

L.  25.  2.   Through  committee. 

P.  156,  1.  14.  I.   A  writ  of  commission  for  taxing  lands. 

P.  158,  1.  12.  i.   Juvenal,  Sat.,  I.,  90.   Alluding  to  the  excess  in  gambling. 

P.  159,  1.  1 6.  i.   Paradise  Lost,  IV.,  96-97. 

L.  19.  2.   Paradise  Lost,  IV.,  53. 

P.  161,  1.  4.  i.  i  Kings  viii.  44,  45;  Dan.  vi.  10.  We  see  everywhere 
the  results  of  Burke's  hours  with  the  poets.  Dr.  Earle,  in  his  excellent 
work  on  English  prose,  says,  "  About  the  choice  of  reading  there  is  a  very 
important  remark  to  be  made.  The  writer  of  English  prose  should  be 
conversant  with  English  poets." 

L.  30.  2.   Cf.  Virgil,  JEneid,  VI.,  726-727. 

P.  162,  1.  26.  i.  The  call  to  prayer  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

P.  163,  1.  7.  I.    Roman  prayer. 

P.  164,  1.  17.  I.  The  first  four  motions  and  the  last  had  the  previous 
question  put  to  them.  The  others  were  negatived. 

On  the  day  of  the  delivery  of  this  speech  strangers  were  shut  out  of  the 
gallery,  but  the  House  was  filled  with  members.  Burke  spoke  for  three 

hours. 

"Silence!  hush! 

This  is  no  trifler,  no  short- flighted  wit, 
No  stammerer  of  a  minute,  painfully 
Delivered.    No !  the  Orator  hath  yoked 
The  Hours,  like  young  Aurora,  to  his  car." 

The  audience  which  he  addressed  was  by  a  large  majority  strongly 
opposed  to  his  ideas,  yet  such  was  the  almost  superhuman  power  of  his 
genius  and  the  might  of  the  truths  which  he  laid  before  them  that  the 
members  were  kindled  to  the  highest  heat  of  enthusiasm,  and  he  took  his 
seat  amid  loud  and  general  applause  from  every  class  of  politicians  and 
from  all  parts  of  the  House. 

Thurlow,  the  attorney-general,  followed,  and  by  an  adroit  appeal  to  the 
littleness  of  party  feeling,  brought  two  hundred  and  seventy  members  down 
to  his  own  level  of  the  selfish  and  the  sordid.  Only  seventy-eight  sup- 


ON  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  237 

» 

ported  Burke  in  his  attempt  to  avert  the  horrors  of  a  war  between  peoples 
of  common  blood,  common  language,  and  common  ancestry. 

The  speech  was  immediately  published,  —  only  a  short  time  after  the 
publication  of  his  speech  on  Taxation,  —  and  the  two  were  eagerly  studied 
by  the  people  throughout  the  Empire. 

Chatham's  Bill  for  reconciliation  should  be  compared  with  these  Reso 
lutions  of  Burke. 

In  this  speech,  says  Dr.  Goodrich,  Burke  took  the  standpoint  of 
America,  while  in  his  speech  on  Taxation  he  took  the  standpoint  of 
England. 


LETTER    TO   THE  SHERIFFS  OF  BRISTOL. 

After  the  rejection  of  Burke's  resolution,  Parliament  had  but  one  more 
opportunity  to  voluntarily  show  pacific  spirit.  The  General  Assembly  of 
New  York,  for  which  Burke  was  agent,  had  not  formally  joined  the  Con 
tinental  Congress,  but  preferred  to  remonstrate  separately,  and  sent  a  peti 
tion  to  the  king,  a  memorial  to  the  House  of  Commons,  a  representation 
to  the  lords  in  which  the  grievances  of  the  colonies  were  recapitulated 
and  redress  requested. 

Burke  moved  that  this  complaint  be  received,  but  by  a  majority  of  three 
to  one  it  was  insolently  refused.  No  sooner  had  the  House  rejected  this 
than  it  heard  that  the  war  had  begun.  When  the  colonists  were  success 
ful,  Burke  urged  reconciliation;  when  they  were  met  by  reverses,  he  quite 
as  strongly  urged  the  same  plan,  but  all  to  no  purpose.  He  censured  the 
University  of  Oxford  for  applauding  when  the  colonists  were  defeated. 
When  Lord  North  planned  to  starve  them  to  submission,  and  to  employ 
German  mercenaries,  he  was  indignant.  When  the  colonies  declared 
themselves  independent  of  the  mother  country,  he  prophesied  success. 
At  last  Burke  and  his  friends,  concluding  that  they  might  emphasize  their 
opposition  to  the  administration  and  assure  the  people  of  America  that 
they  could  act  as  well  as  talk,  withdrew  from  the  deliberations  of  the 
House.  Business  was  then  rushed  along,  and  Parliament  seemed  bound 
to  commit  suicide.  Franklin  was  at  the  court  of  France,  and  this  act  of 
the  colonies  inflamed  the  administration  and  goaded  it  on  to  desperation. 
When  the  iniquitous  bill  for  a  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  came -up, 


238  NOTES. 

0 

those  who  had  withdrawn  met  at  the  house  of  Lord  Rockingham,  and 
some  advised  a  return,  but  Lord  Cavendish,  the  Duke  of  Poland,  and 
Burke  dissented.  Fox,  Sir  George  Saville,  and  Dunning  were  present 
and  opposed  the  bill. 

Burke's  enemies  at  Bristol  were  making  use  of  his  secession  to  damage 
his  prospects  of  a  re-election,  and  as  soon  as  the  Habeas  Corpus  Bill  was 
passed,  he  sent  this  letter  to  the  Sheriffs  of  Bristol,  and  through  it  he  reached 
the  whole  British  people  and  replied  to  the  charges.  He  did  not  return 
to  the  House  until  April,  1777,  when  the  King's  Civil  List  Bill  came  up. 

For  events  intervening  between  the  speech  on  Conciliation  and  the 
Letter,  cf.  MacKnight,  Vols.  II.,  Chs.  XXII.  and  XXIII. ;  Bancroft, 
Vols.  IV.  and  V. 

P.  168,  1.  5.  I.  The  Letter  of  Marque,  by  which  the  property  of  the 
colonists  upon  the  sea  was  to  become  that  of  the  captor.  Thus  it 
became  a  criminal  offence  for  the  colonists  to  engage  in  commerce. 

L.  10.  2.  This  famous  statute,  passed  in  1679  and  considered  the  bul 
wark  of  liberty,  was  to  be  converted  into  an  engine  of  oppression,  to  such 
extremes  of  desperation  had  the  administration  been  driven. 

P.  169,  1.  26.  i.  In  the  rising  of  1745  for  the  cause  of  Prince  Charlie, 
this  Scottish  nobleman  was  captured  and  put  to  death. 

P.  170,  1.  6.  I.    Cf.  note,  page  168,  line  5. 

L.  28.  2.  The  purpose  of  the  old  Statute  of  Henry  the  Eighth  was  to 
insure  British  offenders  arrested  in  the  colonies  a  trial  on  British  soil. 
Cf.  page  14,  line  19,  note.  To  apply  it  to  the  colonies  was  a  direct  inver 
sion  of  its  spirit. 

P.  171, 1.  31.  i.   A  place  of  execution  near  London. 

P.  173,  1.  17.  I.   Brunswickers  and  Hessians. 

P.  175,  1.  9.  I.   To  hear  and  determine. 

P.  179,  1.  II,  I.  Cf.  note  introductory  to  this  speech,  and  MacKnight, 
II.,  Ch.  XXIII.,  "The  Secession." 

P.  180,  1.  12.  I.  These  three  bills,  for  Closing  the  Port,  for  Quartering 
Troops,  and  for  Suspension  of  the  Massachusetts  Charter,  were  passed  in 
the  session  of  1774  and  1775.  Cf.  Bancroft,  Vol.  IV.,  V. 

P.  181,  1.  22.  I.  The  French,  who  were  feared  lest  they  should  assist 
the  colonies. 

L.  26.  2.   Cf.  Bancroft,  IV.,  Ch.  XXIII. 

P.  182, 1.  1 6.  i.   Rahl  and  Kniphausen  were  commanders  of  the  Ger- 


ON  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  239 

man  mercenaries  under  General  Howe.  After  the  capture  of  Fort  Wash 
ington  on  the  Hudson  it  was  called  Fort  Kniphausen. 

L.  28.  2.  Brunswickers  and  Hessians  were  hired  by  the  administration. 
As  the  pay  in  Germany  was  not  so  large  as  that  in  England,  the  difference 
was  paid  to  the  respective  rulers,  —  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  and  the  Land 
grave  of  Hesse.  Soldiers  were  impressed  from  the  plough,  the  workshop, 
and  the  highway.  Cf.  Bancroft,  IV.,  Ch.  XXII. 

P.  185,  1.  9.  I.  After  the  victory  of  Howe  at  Long  Island,  the  English 
people  seemed  beside  themselves  with  pride,  and  hurled  all  manner  of 
reproaches  against  the  colonists.  A  general  fast  was  proclaimed,  and  the 
king  prayed  for  the  rebels  "  as  a  Spanish  inquisitor  might  be  supposed  to 
pray  for  the  conversion  of  a  miserable  Jew  at  an  auto-da-fe." 

P.  187,  1.  5.  i.  This  assertion  is  most  conclusively  proved  by  the  three 
publications  in  this  volume.  That  Burke  could  have  so  thoroughly  under 
stood  the  position  of  the  colonies,  when  at  a  distance  of  three  thousand 
miles  from  them,  seems  almost  incredible. 

P.  188,  1.  9.  I.  In  December,  1776,  Congress  at  Baltimore  voted  to 
"  assure  foreign  courts  that  the  Congress  and  people  are  determined  to 
maintain  their  independence  at  all  events."  Treaties  were  to  be  made 
with  Prussia,  Vienna,  and  Tuscany,  and  an  alliance  was  to  be  made  with 
France  and  Spain.  After  the  battle  of  Trenton,  Lord  George  Germain 
said,  "All  our  hopes  are  blasted." 

L.  26.  2.  Up  to  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Trenton,  Congress  had  left 
on  its  journals  the  suggestion  that  a  reunion  with  Great  Britain  might  still 
be  possible. 

P.  190,  1.  14.  i.  Admiral  Howe  and  his  brother  the  General  were 
appointed  on  a  Commission  of  Peace,  and  had  said  that  peace  would  be 
made  within  ten  days  after  their  arrival.  They  had  power  to  grant  free 
and  general  pardons,  and  promise  "  due  consideration  to  all  persons  who 
should  aid  in  restoring  tranquillity."  This  declaration  was  sent,  addressed 
to  Washington  as  a  private  citizen,  and  he  declined  to  receive  it.  Congress 
said  that  Washington  "  acted  with  a  dignity  becoming  his  station." 

P.  191,  1.  i.  i.  To  Franklin  Lord  Howe  said  that  his  ambition  was  to 
prevent  the  commerce  of  America  from  passing  to  foreign  nations,  and 
Franklin  replied,  "  It  is  painful  to  me  to  see  you  engaged  in  a  war,  the 
ground  of  which  is  '  the  necessity  of  preventing  American  trade  from  pass 
ing  into  foreign  channels.' " 


240  NOTES. 

L.  24.  2.  "Every  thicket  will  be  an  ambuscade  of  partisans;  every 
stone-wall  a  hiding-place  for  sharpshooters;  every  swamp  a  fortress;  the 
boundless  woods  an  impracticable  barrier;  the  farmer's  house  a  garrison." 
—  BANCROFT. 

P.  196,  1.  6.  i.   Cf.  Bancroft,  IV.,  Chs.  XIII.,  XXVII.,  XXVIII. 

P.  197,  1.  6.  I.  An  island  of  the  East  Indies,  valuable  for  its  production 
of  spice.  It  has  been  the  property  of  Portugal,  Spain,  Holland,  and 
England.  In  1622  the  Dutch  massacred  the  English  settlers,  and  took 
possession  of  the  island  of  which  they  had  been  deprived  by  the  English 
in  1615.  In  1672,  Charles  II.  persuaded  Louis  XIV.  to  join  him  in  making 
war  upon  the  Dutch.  The  English  were  not  favorable  to  such  an  under 
taking,  and  to  excite  them,  Charles  had  the  massacre  acted  upon  the  stage. 

P.  198,  1.  14.  I.    Cf.  note,  page  190,  line  14. 

P.  199,  1.  4.  i.   Cf.  note,  page  188,  line  26. 

L.  30.  2.  This  position  of  Burke  should  be  emphasized,  when  so  many 
make  use  of  the  caricature  in  Goldsmith's  Retaliation  as  if  it  were  a 
characterization. 

P.  200,  1.  II.  I.  Cf.  De  Tocqueville,  Democracy  in  America,  Vol.  I., 
Ch.  II. 

P.  202,  1.  4.  I.  Established  in  1584,  the  one  having  jurisdiction  over 
men's  consciences,  the  other  over  their  actions,  became  so  hateful  to  the 
people,  that  they  were  repealed  in  1641. 

P.  203,  1.  8.  I.  The  Ancient  Legislature  of  the  Church  of  England, 
having  an  upper  and  a  lower  house. 

P.  204,  1.  10.  I.    Court  of  a  province  on  the  coast  of  Hindostan. 

P.  206,  1.  1 6.  i.   Cf.  Carlyle's  French  Revolution. 

P.  209,  1.  9.  I.    Cf.  Provincial,  Proprietary,  and  Charter  Governments. 

P.  211, 1.  8.  I.  "The  joy  of  the  colonies  was  for  a  time  unmixed  with 
apprehension,"  says  Bancroft. 

L.  1 6.  2.    Lord  Rockingham. 

P.  215, 1.  29,  I.  Bentinck  was  the  family  name  of  the  Duke  of  Port 
land,  a  leader  of  the  Whig  Peers. 

L.  31.  2.  Cavendish,  the  family  name  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  a 
leading  Whig  Commoner. 

P.  220,  1.  5.  I.  No  statesman  in  history  presents  such  a  life  of  suffering 
for  great  causes.  He  believed  that  success  was  measured,  not  by  a  party 
vote,  but  by  the  devotion  to  right. 


ON  AFFAIRS   OF  AMERICA.  241 

Three  years  had  not  gone  since  Burke  moved  his  plan  of  conciliation, 
and  yet  the  commissioners  sent  by  the  king  to  sue  for  peace,  and  to  grant 
most  ample  and  complete  concession,  only  reserving  to  the  king  the  very 
right  for  which  the  colonies  contended,  —  this  dignified  commission,  armed 
cap-a-pie  for  an  interview  with  the  American  Congress,  —  were  fleeing  at 
the  tail  of  a  retreating  army,  and  letting  fly  "  their  Parthian  shafts  of 
manifestoes  and  remonstrances."  To  this  issue  had  the  dissension  come, 

—  a  dissension  which  might  have  been  prevented  by  the  repeal  of  the 
miserable  duty  upon  tea,  —  a  badge  of  the  royal  prerogative  to  tax  whom 
he  pleased.     The  royal  commission,  when  at  safe  distance  from  the  halls 
of  the  American  Congress,  performed  that  last  and  valiant  act  of  issuing 
a  proclamation  against  the  rebellious  subjects  of  their  sovereign.     This 
was  a  scene  of  buffoonery  which  Burke  must  have  enjoyed  to  the  utmost. 

The  colonists  went  from  success  to  success,  until,  upon  the  very  day 
when  new  supplies  were  setting  sail  for  America,  the  war  was  being  ended 
by  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown.  The  news  reached  Lord 
North  in  a  few  weeks,  and  in  the  deepest  agony  he  exclaimed,  "  O  God ! 
it  is  all  over  !  "  Yet  he  strove  still  to  palliate  the  blow,  until  at  last  General 
Conway,  who  had  before  acted  with  the  administration,  moved  that  an 
address  should  be  presented  to  the  king  against  continuing  the  contest;  and 
after  a  most  aggressive  discussion,  at  half-past  one  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
on  loud  cries  of  '  Question !  Question  !  '  the  division  was  ordered,  and  the 
government  was  beaten  by  a  majority  of  nineteen,  and  Westminster  Hall 
was  a  scene  of  the  wildest  confusion;  joy  knew  no  bounds;  the  whole 
metropolis  was  aroused.  At  two  o'clock  Burke  left  the  house,  and  wrote 
to  his  friend,  Dr.  Franklin  :  "  I  congratulate  you  as  the  friend  of  America 

—  I  trust  as  not  the  enemy  of  England  —  I  am  sure  as  the  friend  of  man 
kind  —  on  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Commons  carried  by  a  majority 
of  nineteen.  ...     I  trust  that  our  happiness  may  be  an  introduction  to 
that  of  the  world  at  large."     The  resignation  of  the  minister  followed, 
and  the  last  act  which  Lord  North  was  to  play  in  this  tragedy  of  action 
and  passion  was  deeply  pathetic  as  on  that  bitterly  cold  night,  amid  the 
falling  snow  driven  by  keen  March  winds,  on  stepping  into  his  carriage 
at  Westminster  Hall,  he  exclaimed  to  a  group  of  the  opposition,  "  Good 
night,  gentlemen ! " 


REFERENCES. 


BANCROFT'S  History  of  the  United  States,  Vols.  III.,  IV.,  V.,  VI. 

MAY.     Constitutional  History. 

MORLEY  J.  BURKE.     English  Men  of  Letters  Series. 

GOODRICH,  C.  A.     Select  British  Eloquence. 

STEPHEN,  L.     English  Thought  in  the  Eighteenth  Century. 

MACAULAY.     Essay  on  Burke. 

HAZLITT.     Political  Essays  and  Eloquence  of  the  British  Senate. 

MACK.NIGHT.     Life  and  Times  of  Edmund  Burke. 

TAINE.     English  Literature. 

GOSSE.     Eighteenth  Century  Literature. 

MAURICE.     Friendship  of  Books.  —  Burke. 

MINTO.     Manual  of  English  Prose  Literature. 

BASCOM.     Philosophy  of  English  Literature. 

FISKE.     American  Political  Ideas. 

"          Beginnings  of  New  England. 

"          War  of  Independence. 
For  periodical  literature  upon  Burke,  see  Pooled  Index. 

242 


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